Systems and methods for the implementation of a core schema for providing a top-level structure for organizing units of information manageable by a hardware/software interface system

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method, in a computer system, for a hardware/software interface system to manipulate a plurality of discrete units of information having properties understandable by said hardware/software interface system (“Items”), said method comprising the use of a core schema to define a set of core Items which said hardware/software interface system understands and can directly process in a predetermined and predictable way. The core Items are derived from the base Item type. In certain embodiments, the Items types in the core schema cannot be directly subtyped but may instead be extended to incorporate additional properties in specific contexts without becoming inconsistent in other contexts that only comprehend the core Item type.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application is related by subject matter to the inventionsdisclosed in the following commonly assigned applications: U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/647,058, filed Aug. 21, 2003, entitled “SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR REPRESENTING UNITS OF INFORMATION MANAGEABLE BY AHARDWARE/SOFTWARE INTERFACE SYSTEM BUT INDEPENDENT OF PHYSICALREPRESENTATION”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/646,941, filed Aug.21, 2003, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SEPARATING UNITS OFINFORMATION MANAGEABLE BY A HARDWARE/SOFTWARE INTERFACE SYSTEM FROMTHEIR PHYSICAL ORGANIZATION”; U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/646,940, filed Aug. 21, 2003, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR THEIMPLEMENTATION OF A BASE SCHEMA FOR ORGANIZING UNITS OF INFORMATIONMANAGEABLE BY A HARDWARE/SOFTWARE INTERFACE SYSTEM”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/646,645, filed Aug. 21, 2003, entitled “SYSTEMSAND METHOD FOR REPRESENTING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN UNITS OF INFORMATIONMANAGEABLE BY A HARDWARE/SOFTWARE INTERFACE SYSTEM”; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/646,575, filed Aug. 21, 2003, entitled “SYSTEMSAND METHODS FOR INTERFACING APPLICATION PROGRAMS WITH AN ITEM-BASEDSTORAGE PLATFORM”; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/646/646, filedAug. 21, 2003, entitled “STORAGE PLATFORM FOR ORGANIZING, SEARCHING, ANDSHARING DATA”; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/646,580, filedAug. 21, 2003, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DATA MODELING IN ANITEM-BASED STORAGE PLATFORM”.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of informationstorage and retrieval, and, more particularly, to an active storageplatform for organizing, searching, and sharing different types of datain a computerized system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Individual disk capacity has been growing at roughly seventy percent(70%) per year over the last decade. Moore's law accurately predictedthe tremendous gains in central processing unit (CPU) power that hasoccurred over the years. Wired and wireless technologies have providedtremendous connectivity and bandwidth. Presuming current trendscontinue, within several years the average laptop computer will possessroughly one terabyte (TB) of storage and contain millions of files, and500 gigabyte (GB) drives will become commonplace.

Consumers use their computers primarily for communication and organizingpersonal information, whether it is traditional personal informationmanager (PIM) style data or media such as digital music or photographs.The amount of digital content, and the ability to store the raw bytes,has increased tremendously; however the methods available to consumersfor organizing and unifying this data has not kept pace. Knowledgeworkers spend enormous amounts of time managing and sharing information,and some studies estimate that knowledge workers spend 15-25% of theirtime on non-productive information related activities. Other studiesestimate that a typical knowledge worker spends about 2.5 hours per daysearching for information.

Developers and information technology (IT) departments investsignificant amounts of time and money in building their own data storesfor common storage abstractions to represent such things as people,places, times, and events. Not only does this result in duplicated work,but it also creates islands of common data with no mechanisms for commonsearching or sharing of that data. Just consider how many address bookscan exist today on a computer running the Microsoft Windows operatingsystem. Many applications, such as e-mail clients and personal financeprograms, keep individual address books, and there is little sharingamong applications of the address book data that each such programindividually maintains. Consequently, a finance program (like MicrosoftMoney) does not share addresses for payees with the addresses maintainedin an email contact folder (like the one in Microsoft Outlook). Indeed,many users have multiple devices and logically should synchronize theirpersonal data amongst themselves and across a wide variety of additionalsources, including cell phones to commercial services such as MSN andAOL; nevertheless, collaboration of shared documents is largely achievedby attaching documents to e-mail messages-that is, manually andinefficiently.

One reason for this lack of collaboration is that traditional approachesto the organization of information in computer systems have centered onthe use of file-folder-and-directory-based systems (“file systems”) toorganize pluralities of files into directory hierarchies of foldersbased on an abstraction of the physical organization of the storagemedium used to store the files. The Multics operating system, developedduring the 1960s, can be credited with pioneering the use of the files,folders, and directories to manage storable units of data at theoperating system level. Specifically, Multics used symbolic addresseswithin a hierarchy of files (thereby introducing the idea of a filepath) where physical addresses of the files were not transparent to theuser (applications and end-users). This file system was entirelyunconcerned with the file format of any individual file, and therelationships amongst and between files was deemed irrelevant at theoperating system level (that is, other than the location of the filewithin the hierarchy). Since the advent of Multics, storable data hasbeen organized into files, folders, and directories at the operatingsystem level. These files generally include the file hierarchy itself(the “directory”) embodied in a special file maintained by the filesystem. This directory, in turn, maintains a list of entriescorresponding to all of the other files in the directory and the nodallocation of such files in the hierarchy (herein referred to as thefolders). Such has been the state of the art for approximately fortyyears.

However, while providing a reasonable representation of informationresiding in the computer's physical storage system, a file system isnevertheless an abstraction of that physical storage system, andtherefore utilization of the files requires a level of indirection(interpretation) between what the user manipulates (units havingcontext, features, and relationships to other units) and what theoperating system provides (files, folders, and directories).Consequently, users (applications and/or end-users) have no choice butto force units of information into a file system structure even whendoing so is inefficient, inconsistent, or otherwise undesirable.Moreover, existing file systems know little about the structure of datastored in individual files and, because of this, most of the informationremains locked up in files that may only be accessed (andcomprehensible) to the applications that wrote them. Consequently, thislack of schematic description of information, and mechanisms formanaging information, leads to the creation of silos of data with littledata sharing among the individual silos. For example, many personalcomputer (PC) users have more than five distinct stores that containinformation about the people they interact with on some level—forexample, Outlook Contacts, online account addressees, Windows AddressBook, Quicken Payees, and instant messaging (IM) buddy lists—becauseorganizing files presents a significant challenge to these PC users.Because most existing file systems utilize a nested folder metaphor fororganizing files and folders, as the number of files increases theeffort necessary to maintain an organization scheme that is flexible andefficient becomes quite daunting. In such situations, it would be veryuseful to have multiple classifications of a single file; however, usinghard or soft links in existing file systems is cumbersome and difficultto maintain.

Several unsuccessful attempts to address the shortcomings of filesystems have been made in the past. Some of these previous attempts haveinvolved the use of content addressable memory to provide a mechanismwhereby data could be accessed by content rather than by physicaladdress. However, these efforts have proven unsuccessful because, whilecontent addressable memory has proven useful for small-scale use bydevices such as caches and memory management units, large-scale use fordevices such as physical storage media has not yet been possible for avariety of reasons, and thus such a solution simply does not exist.Other attempts using object-oriented database (OODB) systems have beenmade, but these attempts, while featuring strong databasecharacteristics and good non-file representations, were not effective inhandling file representations and could not replicate the speed,efficiency, and simplicity of the file and folder based hierarchicalstructure at the hardware/software interface system level. Otherefforts, such as those that attempted to use SmallTalk (and otherderivatives), proved to be quite effective at handling file and non-filerepresentations but lacked database features necessary to efficientlyorganize and utilize the relationships that exist between the variousdata files, and thus the overall efficiency of such systems wasunacceptable. Yet other attempts to use BeOS (and other such operatingsystems research) proved to be inadequate at handling non-filerepresentations-the same core shortcoming of traditional filesystems—despite being able to adequately represent files while providingsome necessary database features.

Database technology is another area of the art in which similarchallenges exits. For example, while the relational database model hasbeen a great commercial success, in truth independent software vendors(ISV) generally exercise a small portion of the functionality availablein relational database software products (such as Microsoft SQL Server).Instead, most of an application's interaction with such a product is inthe form of simple “gets” and “puts”. While there are a number ofreadily apparent reasons for this—such as being platform or databaseagnostic—one key reason that often goes unnoticed is that the databasedoes not necessarily provide the exact abstractions that a majorbusiness application vendor really needs. For example, while the realworld has the notion of “items”, such as “customers” or “orders” (alongwith an order's embedded “line items” as items in and of themselves),relational databases only talk in terms of tables and rows.Consequently, while the application may desire to have aspects ofconsistency, locking, security, and/or triggers at the item level (toname a few), generally databases provide these features only at thetable/row level. While this may work fine if each item gets mapped to asingle row in some table in the database, in the case of an order withmultiple line items there may be reasons why an item actually getsmapped to multiple tables and, when that is the case, the simplerelational database system does not quite provide the rightabstractions. Consequently, an application must build logic on top ofthe database to provide these basic abstractions. In other words, thebasic relational model does not provide a sufficient platform forstorage of data on which higher-level applications can easily bedeveloped because the basic relational model requires a level ofindirection between the application and the storage system—where thesemantic structure of the data might only be visible in the applicationin certain instances. While some database vendors are buildinghigher-level functionality into their products—such as providing objectrelational capabilities, new organizational models, and the like—nonehave yet to provide the kind of comprehensive solution needed, where atruly comprehensive solution is one which provides both useful datamodel abstractions (such as “Items,” “Extensions,” “Relationships,” andso on) for useful domain abstractions (such as “Persons,” “Locations,”“Events,” etc.).

In view of the foregoing deficiencies in existing data storage anddatabase technologies, there is a need for a new storage platform thatprovides an improved ability to organize, search, and share all types ofdata in a computer system—a storage platform that extends and broadensthe data platform beyond existing file systems and database systems, andthat is designed to be the store for all types of data. The presentinvention satisfies this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following summary provides an overview of various aspects of theinvention. It is not intended to provide an exhaustive description ofall of the important aspects of the invention, nor to define the scopeof the invention. Rather, this summary is intended to serve as anintroduction to the detailed description and figures that follow.

The present invention is directed to a storage platform for organizing,searching, and sharing data. The storage platform of the presentinvention extends and broadens the concept of data storage beyondexisting file systems and database systems, and is designed to be thestore for all types of data including structured, non-structured, orsemi-structured data.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the storage platformof the present invention comprises a data store implemented on adatabase engine. In various embodiments of the present invention, thedatabase engine comprises a relational database engine with objectrelational extensions. The data store implements a data model thatsupports organization, searching, sharing, synchronization, and securityof data. Specific types of data are described in schemas, and theplatform provides a mechanism to extend the set of schemas to define newtypes of data (essentially subtypes of the basic types provides by theschemas). A synchronization capability facilitates the sharing of dataamong users or systems. File-system-like capabilities are provided thatallow interoperability of the data store with existing file systems butwithout the limitation of such traditional file systems. A changetracking mechanism provides the ability track changes to the data store.The storage platform further comprises a set of application programinterfaces that enable applications to access all of the foregoingcapabilities of the storage platform and to access the data described inthe schemas.

According to another aspect of the invention, the data model implementedby the data store defines units of data storage in terms of items,elements, and relationships. An item is a unit of data storable in adata store and can comprise one or more elements and relationships. Anelement is an instance of a type comprising one or more fields (alsoreferred to herein as a property). A relationship is a link between twoitems. (As used herein, these and other specific terms may becapitalized in order to offset them from other terms used in closeproximity; however, there is no intention whatsoever to distinguishbetween a capitalized term, e.g. “Item”, and the same term when notcapitalized, e.g., “item”, and no such distinction should be presumed orimplied.)

According to another aspect of the invention, a computer systemcomprises a plurality of Items where each Item constitutes a discretestorable unit of information that can be manipulated by ahardware/software interface system; a plurality of Item Folders thatconstitute an organizational structure for said Items; and ahardware/software interface system for manipulating a plurality of Itemsand wherein each Item belongs to at least one Item Folder and may belongto more than one Item Folder.

According to another aspect of the invention, a computer systemcomprises a plurality of Items, where each Item constitutes a discreteunit of information that can be manipulated by a hardware/softwareinterface system, and the Item or some of the Item's property values arecomputed dynamically as opposed to being derived from a persistentstore. In other words, the hardware/software interface system does notrequire that the Item be stored, and certain operations are supportedsuch as the ability to enumerate the current set of Items or the abilityto retrieve an Item given its identifier (which is more fully describedin the sections that describe the application programming interface, orAPI) of the storage platform—for example, an Item might be the currentlocation of a cell phone or the temperature reading on a temperaturesensor.

According to another aspect of the invention, a hardware/softwareinterface system for a computer system, wherein said hardware/softwareinterface system manipulates a plurality of Items, further comprisesItems interconnected by a plurality of Relationships managed by thehardware/software interface system. According to another aspect of theinvention, a hardware/software interface system for a computer systemwherein said hardware/software interface system manipulates a pluralityof discrete units of information having properties understandable bysaid hardware/software interface system. According to another aspect ofthe invention, a hardware/software interface system for a computersystem comprises a core schema to define a set of core Items which saidhardware/software interface system understands and can directly processin a predetermined and predictable way. According to another aspect ofthe invention, a method for manipulating a plurality of discrete unitsof information (“Items”) in a hardware/software interface system for acomputer system, said method comprising interconnecting said Items witha plurality of Relationships and managing said Relationships at thehardware/software interface system level, is disclosed.

According to another feature of the invention, the API of the storageplatform provides data classes for each item, item extension, andrelationship defined in the set of storage platform schemas. Inaddition, the application programming interface provides a set offramework classes that define a common set of behaviors for the dataclasses and that, together with the data classes, provide the basicprogramming model for the storage platform API. According to anotherfeature of the invention, the storage platform API provides a simplifiedquery model that enables application programmers to form queries basedon various properties of the items in the data store, in a manner thatinsulates the application programmer from the details of the querylanguage of the underlying database engine. According to yet anotheraspect of the storage platform API of the present invention, the APIcollects changes to an item made by an application program and thenorganizes them into the correct updates required by the database engine(or any kind of storage engine) on which the data store is implemented.This enables application programmers to make changes to an item inmemory, while leaving the complexity of data store updates to the API.

Through its common storage foundation and schematized data, the storageplatform of the present invention enables more efficient applicationdevelopment for consumers, knowledge workers and enterprises. It offersa rich and extensible application programming interface that not onlymakes available the capabilities inherent in its data model, but alsoembraces and extends existing file system and database access methods.

Other features and advantages of the invention may become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the invention and accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofthe invention, is better understood when read in conjunction with theappended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, thereis shown in the drawings exemplary embodiments of various aspects of theinvention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methodsand instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing a computer system in whichaspects of the present invention may be incorporated;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system divided intothree component groups: the hardware component, the hardware/softwareinterface system component, and the application programs component;

FIG. 2A illustrates the traditional tree-based hierarchical structurefor files grouped in folders in a directory in a file-based operatingsystem;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a storage platform in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the structural relationship between Items, ItemFolders, and Categories in various embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustrating the structure of an Item;

FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating the complex property types ofthe Item of FIG. 5A;

FIG. 5C is a block diagram illustrating the “Location” Item wherein itscomplex types are further described (explicitly listed);

FIG. 6A illustrates an Item as a subtype of the Item found in the BaseSchema;

FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating the subtype Item of FIG. 6Awherein its inherited types are explicitly listed (in addition to itsimmediate properties);

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the Base Schema including its twotop-level class types, Item and PropertyBase, and the additional BaseSchema types derived therefrom;

FIG. 8A is a block diagram illustrating Items in the Core Schema;

FIG. 8B is a block diagram illustrating the property types in the CoreSchema;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an Item Folder, its member Items,and the interconnecting Relationships between the Item Folder and itsmember Items;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a Category (which, again, is anItem itself), its member Items, and the interconnecting Relationshipsbetween the Category and its member Items;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a reference type hierarchy of the datamodel of the storage platform, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating how relationships are classified, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a notification mechanism, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example in which two transactionsare both inserting a new record into the same B-Tree;

FIG. 15 illustrates a data change detection process in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary directory tree;

FIG. 17 shows an example in which an existing folder of adirectory-based file system is moved into the storage platform datastore in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates the concept of Containment Folders, in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 19 illustrates the basic architecture of the storage platform API;

FIG. 20 schematically represents the various components of the storageplatform API stack;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are a pictorial representation of an exemplaryContacts schema (Items and Elements);

FIG. 22 illustrates the runtime framework of the storage platform API,in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 23 illustrates the execution of a FindAll operation, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 illustrates the process by which storage platform API classesare generated from the storage platform Schema, in accordance with anaspect of the present invention;

FIG. 25 illustrates a schema on which a File API is based, in accordancewith another aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an access mask format used for datasecurity purposes, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 27( a), (b), and (c) depict a new identically protected securityregion being carved out of an existing security region, in accordancewith an embodiment of one aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating the concept of an Item search view, inaccordance with an embodiment of one aspect of the present invention;and

FIG. 29 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary Item hierarchy inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION 22 A. EXEMPLARY COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT22 B. TRADITIONAL FILE-BASED STORAGE 26 II. A NEW STORAGE PLATFORM FORORGANIZING, SEARCHING, AND 28 SHARING DATA A. GLOSSARY 28 B. STORAGEPLATFORM OVERVIEW 29 C. THE DATA MODEL 30 1. Items 32 2. ItemIdentification 36 a) Item References 36 (1) ItemIDReference 36 (2)ItemPathReference 36 b) Reference type hierarchy 36 3. Item Folders andCategories 37 4. Schemas 39 a) Base Schema 39 b) Core Schema 39 5.Relationships 41 a) Relationship Declaration 42 b) Holding Relationship43 c) Embedding Relationships 45 d) Reference Relationships 45 e) Rulesand constraints 46 f) Ordering of Relationships 47 6. Extensibility 52a) Item extensions 53 b) Extending NestedElement types 57 D. DATABASEENGINE 59 1. Data Store Implementation Using UDTs 60 2. Item Mapping 623. Extension Mapping 64 4. Nested Element Mapping 65 5. Object Identity65 6. SQL Object Naming 66 7. Column Naming 67 8. Search Views 67 a)Item 68 (1) Master Item Search View 68 (2) Typed Item Search Views 69 b)Item Extensions 69 (1) Master Extension Search View 69 (2) TypedExtension Search Views 70 c) Nested Elements 71 d) Relationships 71 (1)Master Relationship Search View 71 (2) Relationship Instance SearchViews 72 9. Updates 73 10. Change Tracking &Tombstones 73 a) ChangeTracking 74 (1) Change Tracking in “Master” Search Views 74 (2) ChangeTracking in “Typed” Search Views 75 b) Tombstones 76 (1) Item Tombstones76 (2) Extension Tombstones 76 (3) Relationships Tombstone 77 (4)Tombstone Cleanup 78 11. Helper APIs and Functions 78 a) Function[System.Storage].GetItem 78 b) Function [System.Storage].GetExtension 78c) Function [System.Storage].GetRelationship 78 12. Metadata 78 a)Schema Metadata 79 b) Instance Metadata 79 E. SECURITY 79 1. Overview 792. Detailed Description of the Security Model 84 a) Security Descriptorstructure 84 (1) Access Mask Format 86 (2) Generic Access Rights 86 (3)Standard Access Rights 87 b) Item Specific Rights 87 (1) File andDirectory object specific rights 87 (2) WinFSItemRead 89 (3)WinFSItemReadAttributes 89 (4) WinFSItemWriteAttributes 90 (5)WinFSItemWrite 90 (6) WinFSItemAddLink 90 (7) WinFSItemDeleteLink 91 (8)Rights to delete an item 91 (9) Rights to copy an item 91 (10) Rights tomove an item 92 (11) Rights to view the security policy on an item 92(12) Rights to change the security policy on an item 92 (13) Rights thatdon't have a direct equivalent 93 3. Implementation 93 a) Creating a newitem in a container 94 b) Adding an explicity ACL to an item 94 c)Adding a holding Relationship to an item 94 d) Deleting a holdingRelationship from an item 95 e) Deleting an explicity ACL from an item95 f) Modifying an ACL associated with an item 95 F. NOTIFICATIONS ANDCHANGE TRACKING 95 1. Storage Change Events 96 a) Events 96 b) Watchers97 2. Change Tracking and Notification Generation Mechanism 98 a) ChangeTracking 100 b) Timestamp Management 101 c) Data Change Detection -Event Detection 101 G. SYNCHRONIZATION 102 1. StoragePlatform-to-Storage Platform Synchronization 103 a) Synchronization(Sync) Controlling Applications 103 b) Schema annotation 104 c) SyncConfiguration 105 (1) Community Folder - Mappings 106 (2) Profiles 107(3) Schedules 108 d) Conflict Handling 108 (1) Conflict Detection 108(a) Knowledge-based bonflicts 108 (b) Constraint-based conflicts 109 (2)Conflict Processing 109 (a) Automatic Conflict resolution 110 (b)Conflict Logging 110 (c) Conflict inspection and resolution 112 (d)Convergence of replicas and Propagation of 112 Conflict Resolutions 2.Synchronizing to non-storage platform data stores 113 a) Sync Services113 (1) Change Enumeration 113 (2) Change Application 114 (3) ConflictResolution 115 b) Adapter implementation 115 3. Security 115 4.Manageability 116 H. TRADITIONAL FILE SYSTEM INTEROPERABILITY 116 1.Model for Interoperability 117 2. Data Store Features 118 a) Not avolume 118 b) Store Structure 119 c) Not all files are migrated 119 d)NTFS namespace access to Storage Platform files 119 e) Expectednamespace/drive letters 120 I. STORAGE PLATFORM API 120 1. Overview 1202. Naming and Scopes 121 3. Storage Platform API Components 123 4. DataClasses 123 5. Runtime Framework 131 a) Runtime Framework Classes 131(1) ItemContext 132 (2) ItemSearcher 133 (a) Target Type 133 (b) Filters133 (c) Preparing Searches 133 (d) Find Options 134 (3) Item ResultStream (“FindResult”) 135 b) Runtime Framework in Operation 136 c)Common Programming Patterns 137 (1) Opening and Closing ItemContextObjects 137 (2) Searching for Objects 138 (a) Search Options 139 (b)FindOne and FindOnly 140 (c) Search Shortcuts on ItemContext 140 (d)Find by ID or Path 140 (e) The GetSearcher Pattern 141 (3) Updating theStore 141 6. Security 143 7. Support for Relationships 144 a) BaseRelationship Types 144 (1) Relationship Class 144 (2) ItemReferenceClass 145 (3) ItemIdReference Class 146 (4) ItemPathReference Class 147(5) RelationshipId Structure 147 (6) VirtualRelationshipCollection Class148 b) Generated Relationship Types 150 (1) Generated Relationship Types150 (2) RelationshipPrototype Class 151 (3)RelationshipPrototypeCollection Class 151 c) Relationship Support in theItem Class 152 (1) Item Class 152 (2) RelationshipCollection Class 152d) Relationship Support in Search Expressions 153 (1) Traversing FromItems to Relationships 153 (2) Traversing From Relationships to Items153 (3) Combining Relationship Traversal 154 e) Examples Uses ofRelationship Support 155 (1) Searching for Relationships 155 (2)Navigating from a Relationship to the Source and 156 Target Items (3)Navigating from Source Items to Relationships 157 (4) CreatingRelationships (and Items) 158 (5) Deleting Relationships (and Items) 1598. “Extending” the Storage Platform API 159 a) Domain Behaviors 159 b)Value-Add Behaviors 161 c) Value-add Behaviors as Service Providers 1619. Design Time Framework 162 10. Query Formalism 163 a) Filter Basics163 b) Type Casts 165 c) Filter Syntax 165 11. Remoting 166 a)Local/Remote Transparency in the API 166 b) Storage PlatformImplementation of Remoting 167 c) Accessing Non-Storage Platform Stores167 d) Relationship to DFS 167 e) Relationship to GXA/Indigo 168 12.Constraints 168 13. Sharing 170 a) Representing a Share 170 b) ManagingShares 171 c) Accessing Shares 171 d) Discoverability 171 14. Semanticsof Find 172 15. The Storage Platform Contacts API 172 a) Overview ofSystem.Storage.Contact 173 b) Domain Behaviors 173 16. Storage PlatformFile API 175 a) Introduction 175 (1) Reflecting an NTFS Volume in theStorage 175 Platform (2) Creating Files and Directories in the storage175 platform Namespace b) File Schema 176 c) Overview ofSystem.Storage.Files 176 d) Code Examples 176 (1) Opening a File andWriting to It 177 (2) Using Queries 177 e) Domain Behaviors 178 J.CONCLUSION 178I. Introduction

The subject matter of the present invention is described withspecificity to meet statutory requirements. However, the descriptionitself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. Rather, theinventors have contemplated that the claimed subject matter might alsobe embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations ofsteps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunctionwith other present or future technologies. Moreover, although the term“step” may be used herein to connote different elements of methodsemployed, the term should not be interpreted as implying any particularorder among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and exceptwhen the order of individual steps is explicitly described.

A. Exemplary Computing Environment

Numerous embodiments of the present invention may execute on a computer.FIG. 1 and the following discussion is intended to provide a briefgeneral description of a suitable computing environment in which theinvention may be implemented. Although not required, various aspects ofthe invention may be described in the general context of computerexecutable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by acomputer, such as a client workstation or a server. Generally, programmodules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structuresand the like that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Moreover, the invention may be practiced with othercomputer system configurations, including hand held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers and thelike. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, an exemplary general purpose computing systemincludes a conventional personal computer 20 or the like, including aprocessing unit 21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that couplesvarious system components including the system memory to the processingunit 21. The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memoryincludes read only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. Abasic input/output system 26 (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within the personalcomputer 20, such as during start up, is stored in ROM 24. The personalcomputer 20 may further include a hard disk drive 27 for reading fromand writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive 28 forreading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 29, and an opticaldisk drive 30 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk 31such as a CD ROM or other optical media. The hard disk drive 27,magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30 are connected to thesystem bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk driveinterface 33, and an optical drive interface 34, respectively. Thedrives and their associated computer readable media provide non volatilestorage of computer readable instructions, data structures, programmodules and other data for the personal computer 20. Although theexemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk, a removablemagnetic disk 29 and a removable optical disk 31, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computerreadable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer,such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks,Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories(ROMs) and the like may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment. Likewise, the exemplary environment may also include manytypes of monitoring devices such as heat sensors and security or firealarm systems, and other sources of information.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magneticdisk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including an operatingsystem 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into thepersonal computer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 andpointing device 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus,but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, gameport or universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type ofdisplay device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface,such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor 47, personalcomputers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown),such as speakers and printers. The exemplary system of FIG. 1 alsoincludes a host adapter 55, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) bus56, and an external storage device 62 connected to the SCSI bus 56.

The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 49. The remote computer 49 may be another personal computer, aserver, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common networknode, and typically includes many or all of the elements described aboverelative to the personal computer 20, although only a memory storagedevice 50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide areanetwork (WAN) 52. Such networking environments are commonplace inoffices, enterprise wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 isconnected to the LAN 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. Whenused in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typicallyincludes a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications overthe wide area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which maybe internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via theserial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modulesdepicted relative to the personal computer 20, or portions thereof, maybe stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciatedthat the network connections shown are exemplary and other means ofestablishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

As illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 2, a computer system 200 canbe roughly divided into three component groups: the hardware component202, the hardware/software interface system component 204, and theapplications programs component 206 (also referred to as the “usercomponent” or “software component” in certain contexts herein).

In various embodiments of a computer system 200, and referring back toFIG. 1, the hardware component 202 may comprise the central processingunit (CPU) 21, the memory (both ROM 24 and RAM 25), the basicinput/output system (BIOS) 26, and various input/output (I/O) devicessuch as a keyboard 40, a mouse 42, a monitor 47, and/or a printer (notshown), among other things. The hardware component 202 comprises thebasic physical infrastructure for the computer system 200.

The applications programs component 206 comprises various softwareprograms including but not limited to compilers, database systems, wordprocessors, business programs, videogames, and so forth. Applicationprograms provide the means by which computer resources are utilized tosolve problems, provide solutions, and process data for various users(machines, other computer systems, and/or end-users).

The hardware/software interface system component 204 comprises (and, insome embodiments, may solely consist of) an operating system that itselfcomprises, in most cases, a shell and a kernel. An “operating system”(OS) is a special program that acts as an intermediary betweenapplication programs and computer hardware. The hardware/softwareinterface system component 204 may also comprise a virtual machinemanager (VMM), a Common Language Runtime (CLR) or its functionalequivalent, a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or its functional equivalent,or other such software components in the place of or in addition to theoperating system in a computer system. The purpose of ahardware/software interface system is to provide an environment in whicha user can execute application programs. The goal of anyhardware/software interface system is to make the computer systemconvenient to use, as well as utilize the computer hardware in anefficient manner.

The hardware/software interface system is generally loaded into acomputer system at startup and thereafter manages all of the applicationprograms in the computer system. The application programs interact withthe hardware/software interface system by requesting services via anapplication program interface (API). Some application programs enableend-users to interact with the hardware/software interface system via auser interface such as a command language or a graphical user interface(GUI).

A hardware/software interface system traditionally performs a variety ofservices for applications. In a multitasking hardware/software interfacesystem where multiple programs may be running at the same time, thehardware/software interface system determines which applications shouldrun in what order and how much time should be allowed for eachapplication before switching to another application for a turn. Thehardware/software interface system also manages the sharing of internalmemory among multiple applications, and handles input and output to andfrom attached hardware devices such as hard disks, printers, and dial-upports. The hardware/software interface system also sends messages toeach application (and, in certain case, to the end-user) regarding thestatus of operations and any errors that may have occurred. Thehardware/software interface system can also offload the management ofbatch jobs (e.g., printing) so that the initiating application is freedfrom this work and can resume other processing and/or operations. Oncomputers that can provide parallel processing, a hardware/softwareinterface system also manages dividing a program so that it runs on morethan one processor at a time.

A hardware/software interface system shell (simply referred to herein asa “shell”) is an interactive end-user interface to a hardware/softwareinterface system. (A shell may also be referred to as a “commandinterpreter” or, in an operating system, as an “operating systemshell”). A shell is the outer layer of a hardware/software interfacesystem that is directly accessible by application programs and/orend-users. In contrast to a shell, a kernel is a hardware/softwareinterface system's innermost layer that interacts directly with thehardware components.

While it is envisioned that numerous embodiments of the presentinvention are particularly well-suited for computerized systems, nothingin this document is intended to limit the invention to such embodiments.On the contrary, as used herein the term “computer system” is intendedto encompass any and all devices capable of storing and processinginformation and/or capable of using the stored information to controlthe behavior or execution of the device itself, regardless of whethersuch devices are electronic, mechanical, logical, or virtual in nature.

B. Traditional File-Based Storage

In most computer systems today, “files” are units of storableinformation that may include the hardware/software interface system aswell as application programs, data sets, and so forth. In all modernhardware/software interface systems (Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac OS,virtual machine systems, and so forth), files are the basic discrete(storable and retrievable) units of information (e.g., data, programs,and so forth) that can be manipulated by the hardware/software interfacesystem. Groups of files are generally organized in “folders.” InMicrosoft Windows, the Macintosh OS, and other hardware/softwareinterface systems, a folder is a collection of files that can beretrieved, moved, and otherwise manipulated as single units ofinformation. These folders, in turn, are organized in a tree-basedhierarchical arrangement called a “directory” (discussed in more detailherein below). In certain other hardware/software interface systems,such as DOS, z/OS and most Unix-based operating systems, the terms“directory” and/or “folder” are interchangeable, and early Applecomputer systems (e.g., the Apple IIe) used the term “catalog” insteadof directory; however, as used herein, all of these terms are deemed tobe synonymous and interchangeable and are intended to further includeall other equivalent terms for and references to hierarchicalinformation storage structures and their folder and file components.

Traditionally, a directory (a.k.a. a directory of folders) is atree-based hierarchical structure wherein files are grouped into foldersand folder, in turn, are arranged according to relative nodal locationsthat comprise the directory tree. For example, as illustrated in FIG.2A, a DOS-based file system base folder (or “root directory”) 212 maycomprise a plurality of folders 214, each of which may further compriseadditional folders (as “subfolders” of that particular folder) 216, andeach of these may also comprise additional folders 218 ad infinitum.Each of these folders may have one or more files 220 although, at thehardware/software interface system level, the individual files in afolder have nothing in common other than their location in the treehierarchy. Not surprisingly, this approach of organizing files intofolder hierarchies indirectly reflects the physical organization oftypical storage media used to store these files (e.g., hard disks,floppy disks, CD-ROMs, etc.).

In addition to the foregoing, each folder is a container for itssubfolders and its files—that is, each folder owns its subfolders andfiles. For example, when a folder is deleted by the hardware/softwareinterface system, that folder's subfolders and files are also deleted(which, in the case of each subfolder, further includes its ownsubfolders and files recursively). Likewise, each file is generallyowned by only one folder and, although a file can be copied and the copylocated in a different folder, a copy of a file is itself a distinct andseparate unit that has no direct connection to the original (e.g.,changes to the original file are not mirrored in the copy file at thehardware/software interface system level). In this regard, files andfolders are therefore characteristically “physical” in nature becausefolders are the treated like physical containers, and files are treatedas discrete and separate physical elements inside these containers.

II. A New Storage Platform for Organizing, Searching, and Sharing Data

The present invention is directed to a storage platform for organizing,searching, and sharing data. The storage platform of the presentinvention extends and broadens the data platform beyond the kinds ofexisting file systems and database systems discussed above, and isdesigned to be the store for all types of data, including a new form ofdata called Items.

A. Glossary

As used herein and in the claims, the following terms have the followingmeanings:

An “Item” is an unit of storable information accessible to ahardware/software interface system that, unlike a simple file, is anobject having a basic set of properties that are commonly supportedacross all objects exposed to an end-user by the hardware/softwareinterface system shell. Items also have properties and relationshipsthat are commonly supported across all Item types including featuresthat allow new properties and relationships to be introduced (anddiscussed in great detail later herein).

An “operating system” (OS) is a special program that acts as anintermediary between application programs and computer hardware. Anoperating system comprises, in most cases, a shell and a kernel.

A “hardware/software interface system” is software, or a combination ofhardware and software, that serves as the interface between theunderlying hardware components of a computer system and applicationsthat execute on the computer system. A hardware/software interfacesystem typically comprises (and, in some embodiments, may solely consistof) an operating system. A hardware/software interface system may alsocomprise a virtual machine manager (VMM), a Common Language Runtime(CLR) or its functional equivalent, a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or itsfunctional equivalent, or other such software components in the place ofor in addition to the operating system in a computer system. The purposeof a hardware/software interface system is to provide an environment inwhich a user can execute application programs. The goal of anyhardware/software interface system is to make the computer systemconvenient to use, as well as utilize the computer hardware in anefficient manner.

B. Storage Platform Overview

Referring to FIG. 3, a storage platform 300 in accordance with thepresent invention comprises a data store 302 implemented on a databaseengine 314. In one embodiment, the database engine comprises arelational database engine with object relational extensions. In oneembodiment, the relational database engine 314 comprises the MicrosoftSQL Server relational database engine.

The data store 302 implements a data model 304 that supports theorganization, searching, sharing, synchronization, and security of data.Specific types of data are described in schemas, such as schemas 340,and the storage platform 300 provides tools 346 for deploying thoseschemas as well as for extending those schemas, as described more fullybelow.

A change tracking mechanism 306 implemented within the data store 302provides the ability track changes to the data store. The data store 302also provides security capabilities 308 and a promotion/demotioncapability 310, both of which are discussed more fully below. The datastore 302 also provides a set of application programming interfaces 312to expose the capabilities of the data store 302 to other storageplatform components and application programs (e.g., application programs350 a, 350 b, and 350 c) that utilize the storage platform.

The storage platform of the present invention still further comprises anapplication programming interfaces (API) 322, which enables applicationprograms, such as application programs 350 a, 350 b, and 350 c, toaccess all of the foregoing capabilities of the storage platform and toaccess the data described in the schemas. The storage platform API 322may be used by application programs in combination with other APIs, suchas the OLE DB API 324 and the Microsoft Windows Win32 API 326.

The storage platform 300 of the present invention may provide a varietyof services 328 to application programs, including a synchronizationservice 330 that facilitates the sharing of data among users or systems.For example, the synchronization service 330 may enable interoperabilitywith other data stores 340 having the same format as data store 302, aswell as access to data stores 342 having other formats. The storageplatform 300 also provides file system capabilities that allowinteroperability of the data store 302 with existing file systems, suchas the Windows NTFS files system 318.

In at least some embodiments, the storage platform 320 may also provideapplication programs with additional capabilities for enabling data tobe acted upon and for enabling interaction with other systems. Thesecapabilities may be embodied in the form of additional services 328,such as an Info Agent service 334 and a notification service 332, aswell as in the form of other utilities 336.

In at least some embodiments, the storage platform is embodied in, orforms an integral part of, the hardware/software interface system of acomputer system. For example, and without limitation, the storageplatform of the present invention may be embodied in, or form anintegral part of, an operating system, a virtual machine manager (VMM),a Common Language Runtime (CLR) or its functional equivalent, or a JavaVirtual Machine (JVM) or its functional equivalent.

Through its common storage foundation, and schematized data, the storageplatform of the present invention enables more efficient applicationdevelopment for consumers, knowledge workers and enterprises. It offersa rich and extensible programming surface area that not only makesavailable the capabilities inherent in its data model, but also embracesand extends existing file system and database access methods.

In the following description, and in various ones of the figures, thestorage platform 300 of the present invention may be referred to as“WinFS.” However, use of this name to refer to the storage platform issolely for convenience of description and is not intended to be limitingin any way.

C. The Data Model

The data store 302 of the storage platform 300 of the present inventionimplements a data model that supports the organization, searching,sharing, synchronization, and security of data that resides in thestore. In the data model of the present invention, an “Item” is thefundamental unit of storage information. The data model provides amechanism for declaring Items and Item extensions and for establishingrelationships between Items and for organizing Items in Item Folders andin Categories, as described more fully below.

The data model relies on two primitive mechanisms, Types andRelationships. Types are structures which provide a format which governsthe form of an instance of the Type. The format is expressed as anordered set of Properties. A Property is a name for a value or set ofvalues of a given Type. For example a USPostalAddress type might havethe properties Street, City, Zip, State in which Street, City and Stateare of type String and Zip is of Type Int32. Street may be multi-valued(i.e. a set of values) allowing the address to have more than one valuefor the Street property. The system defines certain primitive types thatcan be used in the construction of other types—these include String,Binary, Boolean, Int16, Int32, Int64, Single, Double, Byte, DateTime,Decimal and GUID. The Properties of a Type may be defined using any ofthe primitive types or (with some restrictions noted below) any of theconstructed types. For example a Location Type might be defined that hadProperties Coordinate and Address where the Address Property is of TypeUSPostalAddress as described above. Properties may also be required oroptional.

Relationships can be declared and represent a mapping between the setsof instances of two types. For example there may be a Relationshipdeclared between the Person Type and the Location Type called LivesAtwhich defines which people live at which locations. The Relationship hasa name, two endpoints, namely a source endpoint and a target endpoint.Relationships may also have an ordered set of properties. Both theSource and Target endpoints have a Name and a Type. For example theLivesAt Relationship has a Source called Occupant of Type Person and aTarget called Dwelling of Type Location and in addition has propertiesStartDate and EndDate indicating the period of time for which theoccupant lived at the dwelling. Note that a Person may live at multipledwellings over time and a dwelling may have multiple occupants so themost likely place to put the StartDate and EndDate information is on therelationship itself.

Relationships define a mapping between instances that is constrained bythe types given as the endpoint types. For example the LivesAtrelationship cannot be a relationship in which an Automobile is theOccupant because an Automobile is not a Person.

The data model does allow the definition of a subtype-supertyperelationship between types. The subtype-supertype relationship alsoknown as the BaseType relationship is defined in such a way that if TypeA is a BaseType for Type B it must be the case that every instance of Bis also an instance of A. Another way of expressing this is that everyinstance that conforms to B must also conform to A. If, for example Ahas a property Name of Type String while B has a property Age of TypeInt16, it follows that any instance of B must have both a Name and anAge. The type hierarchy may be envisaged as an tree with a singlesupertype at the root. The branches from the root provide the firstlevel subtypes, the branches at this level provide the second levelsubtypes and so on to the leaf-most subtypes which themselves do nothave any subtypes. The tree is not constrained to be of a uniform depthbut cannot contain any cycles. A given Type may have zero or manysubtypes and zero or one super type. A given instance may conform to atmost one type together with that type's super types. To put it anotherway, for a given instance at any level in the tree the instance mayconform to at most one subtype at that level.

A type is said to be Abstract if instances of the type must also be aninstance of a subtype of the type.

1. Items

An Item is a unit of storable information that, unlike a simple file, isan object having a basic set of properties that are commonly supportedacross all objects exposed to an end-user or application program by thestorage platform. Items also have properties and relationships that arecommonly supported across all Item types including features that allownew properties and relationships to be introduced, as discussed below.

Items are the objects for common operations such as copy, delete, move,open, print, backup, restore, replicate, and so forth. Items are theunits that can be stored and retrieved, and all forms of storableinformation manipulated by the storage platform exist as Items,properties of Items, or Relationships between Items, each of which isdiscussed in greater detail herein below.

Items are intended to represent real-world and readily-understandableunits of data like Contacts, People, Services, Locations, Documents (ofall various sorts), and so on. FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustratingthe structure of an Item. The unqualified name of the Item is“Location”. The qualified name of the Item is “Core.Location” whichindicates that this Item structure is defined as a specific type of Itemin the Core Schema. (The Core Schema is discussed in more detail laterherein.)

The Location Item has a plurality of properties including EAddresses,MetropolitanRegion, Neighborhood, and PostalAddresses. The specific typeof property for each is indicated immediately following the propertyname and is separated from the property name by a colon (“:”). To theright of the type name, the number of values permitted for that propertytype is indicated between brackets (“[ ]”) wherein an asterisk (“*”) tothe right of the colon (“:”) indicates an unspecified and/or unlimitednumber (“many”). A “1” to the right of the colon indicates that therecan be at most one value. A zero (“0”) to the left of the colonindicates that the property is optional (there may be no value at all).A “1” to the left of the colon indicates that there must be at least onevalue (the property is required). Neighborhood and MetropolitanRegionare both of type “nvarchar” (or equivalent) which is a predefined datatype or “simple type” (and denoted herein by the lack ofcapitalization). EAddresses and PostalAddresses, however, are propertiesof defined types or “complex types” (as denoted herein bycapitalization) of types EAddress and PostalAddress respectively. Acomplex type is type that is derived from one or more simple data typesand/or from other complex types. The complex types for the properties ofan Item also constitute “nested elements” since the details of thecomplex type are nested into the immediate Item to define itsproperties, and the information pertaining to these complex types ismaintained with the Item that has these properties (within the Item'sboundary, as discussed later herein). These concepts of typing are wellknown and readily appreciated by those of skill in the art.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating the complex property typesPostalAddress and EAddress. The PostalAddress property type defines thatan Item of property type PostalAddress can be expected to have zero orone City values, zero or one CountryCode values, zero or one MailStopvalues, and any number (zero to many) of PostalAddressTypes, and so onand so forth. In this way, the shape of the data for a particularproperty in an Item is hereby defined. The EAddress property type issimilarly defined as shown. Although optionally used herein thisApplication, another way to represent the complex types in the LocationItem is to draw the Item with the individual properties of each complextype listed therein. FIG. 5C is a block diagram illustrating theLocation Item wherein its complex types are further described. However,it should be understood that this alternative representation of theLocation Item in this FIG. 5C is for the exact same Item illustrated inFIG. 5A. The storage platform of the present invention also allowssubtyping whereby one property type can be a subtype of another (wherethe one property type inherits the properties of another, parentproperty type).

Similar to but distinct from properties and their property types, Itemsinherently represent their own Item Types that can also be the subjectof subtyping. In other words, the storage platform in severalembodiments of the present invention allows an Item to be a subtype ofanother Item (whereby the one Item inherits the properties of the other,parent Item). Moreover, for various embodiments of the presentinvention, every Item is a subtype of the “Item” Item type which is thefirst and foundational Item type found in the Base Schema. (The BaseSchema will also be discussed in detail later herein.) FIG. 6Aillustrates an Item, the Location Item in this Instance, as being asubtype of the Item Item type found in the Base Schema. In this drawing,the arrow indicates that the Location Item (like all other Items) is asubtype of the Item Item type. The Item Item type, as the foundationalItem from which all other Items are derived, has a number of importantproperties such as ItemId and various timestamps, and thereby definesthe standard properties of all Items in an operating system. In thepresent figure, these properties of the Item Item type are inherited byLocation and thereby become properties of Location.

Another way to represent the properties in the Location Item inheritedfrom the Item Item type is to draw Location with the individualproperties of each property type from the parent Item listed therein.FIG. 6B is a block diagram illustrating the Location Item wherein itsinherited types described in addition to its immediate properties. Itshould be noted and understood that this Item is the same Itemillustrated in FIG. 5A, although in the present figure Location isillustrated with all of its properties, both immediate—shown in boththis figure and FIG. 5A—and inherited—shown in this figure but not FIG.5A (whereas in FIG. 5A these properties are referenced by showing withan arrow that the Location Item is a subtype of the Item Item type).

Items are stand-alone objects; thus, if you delete an Item, all of theItems immediate and inherited properties are also deleted. Similarly,when retrieving an Item, what is received is the Item and all of itsimmediate and inherited properties (including the information pertainingto its complex property types). Certain embodiments of the presentinvention may enable one to request a subset of properties whenretrieving a specific Item; however, the default for many suchembodiments is to provide the Item with all of its immediate andinherited properties when retrieved. Moreover, the properties of Itemscan also be extended by adding new properties to the existing propertiesof that Item's type. These “extensions” are thereafter bona fideproperties of the Item and subtypes of that Item type may automaticallyinclude the extension properties.

The “boundary” of the Item is represented by its properties (includingcomplex property types, extensions, and so forth). An Item's boundaryalso represents the limit of an operation performed on an Item such ascopy, delete, move, create, and so on. For example, in severalembodiments of the present invention, when an Item is copied, everythingwithin that Item's boundary is also copied. For each Item, the boundaryencompasses the following:

-   -   The Item Type of the Item and, if the Item is a subtype of        another Item (as is the case in several embodiments of the        present invention where all Items are derived from a single Item        and Item Type in the Base Schema), any applicable subtype        information (that is, information pertaining to the parent Item        Type). If the original Item being copied is a subtype of another        Item, the copy may also be a subtype of that same Item.    -   The Item's complex-type properties and extensions, if any. If        the original Item has properties of complex types (native or        extended), the copy may also have the same complex types.    -   The Item's records on “ownership relationships”, that is, the        Item's own list of what other Items (the “Target Items”) are        owned by the present Item (the “Owning Item”). This is        particularly relevant in regard to Item Folders, discussed more        fully below, and the rule stated below that all Items must        belong to at least one Item Folder. Moreover, in regard to        embedded items—discussed more fully below—an embedded item is        considered to be part of the Item in which it is embedded for        operations such as copy, delete, and the like.

2. Item Identification

Items are uniquely identified within the global items space with anItemID. The Base.Item type defines a field ItemID of type GUID thatstores the identity for the Item. An Item must have exactly one identityin the data store 302.

a) Item References

An item reference is a data structure that contains information tolocate and identify an Item. In the data model, an abstract type isdefined named ItemReference from which all item reference types derive.The ItemReference type defines a virtual method named Resolve. TheResolve method resolves the ItemReference and returns an Item. Thismethod is overridden by the concrete subtypes of ItemReference, whichimplement a function that retrieves an Item given a reference. TheResolve method is invoked as part of the storage platform API 322.

(1) ItemIDReference

ItemIDReference is a subtype of ItemReference. It defines a Locator andan ItemID field. The Locator field names (i.e. identifies) an itemdomain. It is processed by a locator resolution method that can resolvethe value of the Locator to an item domain. The ItemID field is of typeItemID

(2) ItemPathReference

ItemPathReference is a specialization of ItemReference that defines aLocator and a Path field. The Locator field identifies an item domain.It is processed by a locator resolution method that can resolve thevalue of the Locator to an item domain. The Path field contains a(relative) path in the storage platform namespace rooted at the itemdomain provided by the Locator.

This type of reference cannot be used in a set operation. The referencemust generally be resolved through a path resolution process. TheResolve method of the storage platform API 322 provides thisfunctionality.

b) Reference Type Hierarchy

The reference forms discussed above are represented through thereference type hierarchy illustrated in FIG. 11. Additional referencetypes that inherit from these types can be defined in the schemas. Theycan be used in a relationship declaration as type of the target field.

3. Item Folders and Categories

As discussed more fully below, groups of Items can are organized intospecial Items called Item Folders (which are not to be confused withfile folders). Unlike in most file systems, however, an Item can belongto more than one Item Folder, such that when an Item is accessed in oneItem Folder and revised, this revised Item can then be accessed directlyfrom another Item folder. In essence, although access to an Item mayoccur from different Item Folders, what is actually being accessed is infact the very same Item. However, an Item Folder does not necessarilyown all of its member Items, or may simply co-own Items in conjunctionwith other folders, such that the deletion of an Item Folder does notnecessarily result in the deletion of the Item. Nevertheless, in severalembodiments of the present invention, an Item must belong to at leastone Item Folder so that if the sole Item Folder for a particular Item isdeleted then, for some embodiments, the Item is automatically deletedor, in alternative embodiments, the Item automatically becomes a memberof a default Item Folder (e.g., a “Trash Can” Item Folder conceptuallysimilar to similarly-named folders used in various file-and-folder-basedsystems).

As also discussed more fully below, Items may also belong to Categoriesbased on common described characteristic such as (a) an Item Type (orTypes), (b) a specific immediate or inherited property (or properties),or (c) a specific value (or values) corresponding to an Item property.For example, a Item comprising specific properties for personal contactinformation might automatically belong to a Contact Category, and anyItem having contact information properties would likewise automaticallybelong to this Category. Likewise, any Item having a location propertywith a value of “New York City” might automatically belong to aNewYorkCity Category.

Categories are conceptually different form Item Folders in that, whereasItem Folders may comprise Items that are not interrelated (i.e., withouta common described characteristic), each Item in a Category has a commontype, property, or value (a “commonality”) that is described for thatCategory, and it is this commonality that forms the basis for itsrelationship to and among the other Items in the Category. Moreover,whereas an Item's membership in a particular Folder is not compulsorybased on any particular aspect of that Item, for certain embodiments allItems having a commonality categorically related to a Category mightautomatically become a member of the Category at the hardware/softwareinterface system level. Conceptually, Categories can also be thought ofas virtual Item Folders whose membership is based on the results of aspecific query (such as in the context of a database), and Items thatmeet the conditions of this query (defined by the commonalities of theCategory) would thus comprise the Category's membership.

FIG. 4 illustrates the structural relationship between Items, ItemFolders, and Categories in various embodiments of the present invention.A plurality of Items 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414, 416, 418, and420 are members of various Item Folders 422, 424, 426, 428, and 430.Some Items may belong to more than one Item Folder, e.g., Item 402belong to Item Folders 422 and 424. Some Items, e.g., Item 402, 404,406, 408, 410, and 412 are also members of one or more Categories 432,434, and 436, while other times, e.g., Items 414, 416, 418, and 420, maybelong to no Categories (although this is largely unlikely in certainembodiments where the possession of any property automatically impliesmembership in a Category, and thus an Item would have to be completelyfeatureless in order not to be a member of any category in such anembodiment). In contrast to the hierarchical structure of folders, bothCategories and Item Folders have structures more akin to directed graphsas shown. In any event, the Items, Item Folders, and Categories are allItems (albeit of different Item Types).

In contrast to files, folders, and directories, the Items, Item Folders,and Categories of the present invention are not characteristically“physical” in nature because they do not have conceptual equivalents ofphysical containers, and therefore Items may exist in more than one suchlocation. The ability for Items to exist in more than one Item Folderlocation as well as being organized into Categories provides an enhancedand enriched degree of data manipulation and storage structurecapabilities at the hardware/software interface level, beyond thatcurrently available in the art.

4. Schemas

a) Base Schema

To provide a universal foundation for the creation and use of Items,various embodiments of the storage platform of the present inventioncomprise a Base Schema that establishes a conceptual framework forcreating and organizing Items and properties. The Base Schema definescertain special types of Items and properties, and the features of thesespecial foundational types from which subtypes can be further derived.The use of this Base Schema allows a programmer to conceptuallydistinguish Items (and their respective types) from properties (andtheir respective types). Moreover, the Base Schema sets forth thefoundational set of properties that all Items may possess as all Items(and their corresponding Item Types) are derived from this foundationalItem in the Base Schema (and its corresponding Item Type).

As illustrated in FIG. 7, and in regard to several embodiments of thepresent invention, the Base Schema defines three top-level types: Item,Extension, and PropertyBase. As shown, the Item type is defined by theproperties of this foundational “Item” Item type. In contrast, the toplevel property type “PropertyBase” has no predefined properties and ismerely the anchor from which all other property types are derived andthrough which all derived property types are interrelated (beingcommonly derived from the single property type). The Extension typeproperties define which Item the extension extends as well asidentification to distinguish one extension from another as an Item mayhave multiple extensions.

ItemFolder is a subtype of the Item Item type that, in addition to theproperties inherited from Item, features a Relationship for establishinglinks to its members (if any), whereas both IdentityKey and Property aresubtypes of PropertyBase. CategoryRef, in turn, is a subtype ofIdentityKey.

b) Core Schema

Various embodiments of the storage platform of the present inventionfurther comprise a Core Schema that provides a conceptual framework fortop-level Items type structures. FIG. 8A is a block diagram illustratingItems in the Core Schema, and FIG. 8B is a block diagram illustratingthe property types in the Core Schema. The distinction made betweenfiles with different extensions (*.com, *.exe, *.bat, *.sys, etc.) andother such criteria in file-and-folder-based systems is analogous to thefunction of the Core Schema. In the Item-based hardware/softwareinterface system, the Core Schema defines a set of core Item types that,directly (by Item type) or indirectly (by Item subtype), characterizeall Items into one or more Core Schema Item types which the Item-basedhardware/software interface system understands and can directly processin a predetermined and predictable way. The predefined Item typesreflect the most common Items in the Item-based hardware/softwareinterface system and thus a level of efficiency is gained by theItem-based hardware/software interface system understanding thesepredefined Item types that comprise the Core Schema.

In certain embodiments, the Core Schema is not extendable—that is, noadditional Item types can be subtyped directly from the Item type in theBase Schema except for the specific predefined derived Item types thatare part of the Core Schema. By preventing extensions to the Core Schema(that is, by preventing the addition of new Items to the Core Schema),the storage platform mandates the use of the Core Schema Item typessince every subsequent Item type is necessarily a subtype of a CoreSchema Item type. This structure enables a reasonable degree offlexibility in defining additional Item types while also preserving thebenefits of having a predefined set of core Item types.

For various embodiments of the present invention, and in reference toFIG. 8A, the specific Item types supported by the Core Schema mayinclude one or more of the following:

-   -   Categories: Items of this Item Type (and subtypes derived        therefrom) represent valid Categories in the Item-based        hardware/software interface system.    -   Commodities: Items that are identifiable things of value.    -   Devices: Items having a logical structure that supports        information processing capabilities.    -   Documents: Items with content that is not interpreted by the        Item-based hardware/software interface system but is instead        interpreted by an application program corresponding to the        document type.    -   Events: Items that record certain occurrences in the        environment.    -   Locations: Items representing physical locations (e.g.,        geographical locations).    -   Messages: Items of communication between two or more principals        (defined below).    -   Principals: Items having at least one definitively provable        identity aside from an ItemId (e.g., the identification of a        person, organization, group, household, authority, service,        etc.).    -   Statements: Items having special information regarding the        environment including, without limitation, policies,        subscriptions, credentials, and so forth.

Likewise, and in reference to FIG. 8B, the specific property typessupported by the Core Schema may include one or more of the following:

-   -   Certificates (derived from the foundational PropertyBase type in        the Base Schema)    -   Principal Identity Keys (derived from the IdentityKey type in        the Base Schema)    -   Postal Address (derived from the Property type in the Base        Schema)    -   Rich Text (derived from the Property type in the Base Schema)    -   EAddress (derived from the Property type in the Base Schema)    -   IdentitySecurityPackage (derived from the Relationship type in        the Base Schema)    -   RoleOccupancy (derived from the Relationship type in the Base        Schema)    -   BasicPresence (derived from the Relationship type in the Base        Schema)

These Items and Properties are further described by their respectiveproperties set forth in FIGS. 8A and 8B.

5. Relationships

Relationships are binary relationships where one Item is designated assource and the other Item as target. The source Item and the target Itemare related by the relationship. The source Item generally controls thelife-time of the relationship. That is, when the source Item is deleted,the relationship between the Items is also deleted.

Relationships are classified into: Containment and Referencerelationships. The containment relationships control the life-time ofthe target Items, while the reference relationships do not provide anylife-time management semantics. FIG. 12 illustrates the manner in whichrelationships are classified.

The Containment relationship types are further classified into Holdingand Embedding relationships. When all holding relationships to an Itemare removed, the Item is deleted. A holding relationship controls thelife-time of the target through a reference counting mechanism. Theembedding relationships enable modeling of compound Items and can bethought of as exclusive holding relationships. An Item can be a targetof one or more holding relationships; but an Item can be target ofexactly one embedding relationship. An Item that is a target of anembedding relationship can not be a target of any other holding orembedding relationships.

Reference relationships do not control the lifetime of the target Item.They may be dangling—the target Item may not exist. Referencerelationships can be used to model references to Items anywhere in theglobal Item name space (i.e. including remote data stores).

Fetching an Item does not automatically fetch its relationships.Applications must explicitly request the relationships of an Item. Inaddition, modifying a relationship does not modify the source or thetarget Item; similarly, adding a relationship does not affect thesource/target Item.

a) Relationship Declaration

The explicit relationship types are defined with the following elements:

-   -   A relationship name is specified in the Name attribute.    -   Relationship type, one of the following: Holding, Embedding,        Reference. This is specified in the Type attribute.    -   Source and target endpoints. Each endpoint specifies a name and        the type of the referenced Item.    -   The source endpoint field is generally of type ItemID (not        declared) and it must reference an Item in the same data store        as the relationship instance.    -   For Holding and Embedding relationships, the target endpoint        field must be of type ItemIDReference and it must reference an        Item in the same store as the relationship instance. For        Reference relationships the target endpoint can be of any        ItemReference type and can reference Items in other storage        platform data stores.    -   Optionally one or more fields of a scalar or PropertyBase type        can be declared. These fields may contain data associated with        the relationship.    -   Relationship instances are stored in a global relationships        table.    -   Every relationship instance is uniquely identified by the        combination (source ItemID, relationship ID). The relationship        ID is unique within a given source ItemID for all relationships        sourced in a given Item regardless of their type.

The source Item is the owner of the relationship. While an Itemdesignated as owner controls the life time of the relationship, therelationship itself is separate from the Items it relates. The storageplatform API 322 provides mechanisms for exposing relationshipsassociated with an Item.

Here is an example of a relationship declaration:

<Relationship Name=“Employment” BaseType=“Reference” > <SourceName=“Employee” ItemType=“Contact.Person”/> <Target Name=“Employer”ItemType=“Contact.Organization” ReferenceType=“ItemIDReference” /><Property Name=“StartDate” Type=“the storage platformTypes.DateTime” /><Property Name=“EndDate” Type=“the storage platformTypes.DateTime” /><Property Name=“Office” Type=“the storage platformTypes.DateTime” /></Relationship>

This is an example of a Reference relationship. The relationship can notbe created if the person Item that is referenced by the source referencedoes not exist. Also, if the person Item is deleted, the relationshipinstances between the person and organization are deleted. However, ifthe Organization Item is deleted, the relationship is not deleted and itis dangling.

b) Holding Relationship

Holding relationships are used to model reference count based life-timemanagement of the target Items.

An Item can be a source endpoint for zero or more relationships toItems. An Item that is not an embedded Item can be a target of in one ormore holding relationships.

The target endpoint reference type must be ItemIDReference and it mustreference an Item in the same store as the relationship instance.

Holding relationships enforce lifetime management of the targetendpoint. The creation of a holding relationship instance and the Itemthat it is targeting is an atomic operation. Additional holdingrelationship instances can be created that are targeting the same Item.When the last holding relationship instance with a given Item as targetendpoint is deleted the target Item is also deleted.

The types of the endpoint Items specified in the relationshipdeclaration will generally be enforced when an instance of therelationship is created. The types of the endpoint Items can not bechanged after the relationship is established.

Holding relationships play a key role in forming the Item namespace.They contain the “Name” property that defines the name of the targetItem relative to the source Item. This relative name is unique for allthe holding relationships sourced from a given Item. The ordered list ofthis relative names starting from the root Item to a given Item formsthe full name to the Item.

The holding relationships form a directed acyclic graph (DAG). When aholding relationship is created the system ensures that a cycle is notcreated, thus ensuring that the Item namespace forms a DAG.

While the holding relationship controls the life time of the targetItem, it does not control the operational consistency of the targetendpoint Item. The target Item is operationally independent from theItem that owns it through a holding relationship. Copy, Move, Backup andother operations on an Item that is a source of a holding relationshipdo not affect the Item that is a target of the same relationship—forexample that is, backing up a Folder Item does not automatically backupall the Items in the folder (targets of the FolderMember relationship).

The following is an example of a holding relationship:

<Relationship Name=″FolderMembers″ BaseType=″Holding” > <SourceName=″Folder″ ItemType=″Base.Folder″/> <Target Name=″Item″ItemType=″Base.Item″ ReferenceType=″ItemIDReference″ /> </Relationship>

The FolderMembers relationship enables the concept of a Folder as ageneric collection of Items.

c) Embedding Relationships

Embedding relationships model the concept of exclusive control of thelifetime of the target Item. They enable the concept of compound Items.

The creation of an embedding relationship instance and the Item that itis targeting is an atomic operation. An Item can be a source of zero ormore embedding relationship. However, an Item can be a target of one andonly one embedding relationship. An Item that is a target of anembedding relationship can not be a target of a holding relationship.

The target endpoint reference type must be ItemIDReference and it mustreference an Item in the same data store as the relationship instance.

The types of the endpoint Items specified in the relationshipdeclaration will generally be enforced when an instance of therelationship is created. The types of the endpoint Items can not bechanged after the relationship is established.

Embedding relationships control the operational consistency of thetarget endpoint. For example the operation of serializing of an Item mayinclude serialization of all the embedding relationships that sourcefrom that Item as well as all of their targets; copying an Item alsocopies all its embedded Items.

The following is an example declaration:

<Relationship Name=″ArchiveMembers″ BaseType=″Embedding” > <SourceName=″Archive″ ItemType=″Zip.Archive″ /> <Target Name=″Member″ItemType=″Base.Item ″ ReferenceType=″ItemIDReference″ /> <PropertyName=″ZipSize″ Type=″the storage platformTypes.bigint″ /> <PropertyName=″SizeReduction″ Type=″the storage platformTypes.float″ /></Relationship>

d) Reference Relationships

The reference relationship does not control life time of the Item itreferences. Even more, the reference relationships do not guarantee theexistence of the target, nor do they guarantee the type of the target asspecified in the relationship declaration. This means that the referencerelationships can be dangling. Also, the reference relationship canreference Items in other data stores. Reference relationships can bethought of as a concept similar to links in web pages.

An example of reference relationship declaration is the following:

<Relationship Name=“DocumentAuthor” BaseType=“Reference” > <SourcItemType=“Document” ItemType=“Base.Document”/> <Target ItemType=“Author”ItemType=“Base.Author” ReferenceType=“ItemIDReference” /> <PropertyType=“Role” Type=“Core.CategoryRef” /> <Property Type=“DisplayName”Type=“the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(256)” /> </Relationship>

Any reference type is allowed in the target endpoint. The Items thatparticipate in a reference relationship can be of any Item type.

Reference relationships are used to model most non-lifetime managementrelationships between Items. Since the existence of the target is notenforced, the reference relationship is convenient to modelloosely-coupled relationships. The reference relationship can be used totarget Items in other data stores including stores on other computers.

e) Rules and Constraints

The following additional rules and constraints apply for relationships:

-   -   1. An Item must be a target of (exactly one embedding        relationship) or (one or more holding relationships). One        exception is the root Item. An Item can be a target of zero or        more reference relationships    -   2. An Item that is a target of embedding relationship can not be        source of holding relationships. It can be a source of reference        relationships.    -   3. An Item can not be a source of holding relationship if it is        promoted from file. It can be a source of embedding        relationships and reference relationships.    -   4. An Item can that is promoted from a file can not be a target        of an embedding relationship.

f) Ordering of Relationships

In at least one embodiment, the storage platform of the presentinvention supports ordering of relationships. The ordering is achievedthrough a property named “Order” in the base relationship definition.There is no uniqueness constraint on the Order field. The order of therelationships with the same “order” property value is not guaranteed,however it is guaranteed that they may be ordered after relationshipswith lower “order” value and before relationships with higher “order”field value.

Applications can get the relationships in the default order by orderingon the combination (SourceItemID, RelationshipID, Order). Allrelationship instances sourced from a given Item are ordered as a singlecollection regardless of the type of the relationships in thecollection. This however guarantees that all relationships of a giventype (e.g., FolderMembers) are an ordered subset of the relationshipcollection for a given Item.

The data store API 312 for manipulating relationships implement a set ofoperations that support ordering of relationships. The following termsare introduced to help explain the operations:

-   -   RelFirst is the first relationship in the ordered collection        with order value OrdFirst;    -   RelLast is the last relationship in the ordered collection with        order value OrdLast;    -   RelX is a given relationship in the collection with order value        OrdX;    -   RelPrev is a closest relationship in the collection to RelX with        order value OrdPrev smaller then OrdX; and    -   RelNext is a closest relationship in the collection to RelX with        order value OrdNext greater then OrdX.    -   InsertBeforeFirst(SourceItemID, Relationship)    -   Inserts the relationship as the first relationship in the        collection. The value of the “Order” property of the new        relationship may be smaller then OrdFirst.    -   InsertAfterLast(SourceItemID, Relationship)    -   Inserts the relationship as the last relationship in the        collection. The value of the “Order” property of the new        relationship may be greater then OrdLast.    -   InsertAt(SourceItemID, ord, Relationship)    -   Inserts a relationship with the specified value for the “Order”        property.    -   InsertBefore(SourceItemID, ord, Relationship)    -   Inserts the relationship before the relationship with the given        order value. The new relationship may be assigned “Order” value        that is between OrdPrev and ord, noninclusive.    -   InsertAfter(SourceItemID, ord, Relationship)    -   Inserts the relationship after the relationship with the given        order value. The new relationship may be assigned “Order” value        that is between ord and OrdNext, non-inclusive.    -   MoveBefore(SourceItemID, ord, RelationshipID)    -   Moves the relationship with given relationship ID before the        relationship with specified “Order” value. The relationship may        be assigned a new “Order” value that is between OrdPrev and ord,        non-inclusive.    -   MoveAfter(SourceItemID, ord, RelationshipID)    -   Moves the relationship with given relationship ID after the        relationship with specified “Order” value. The relationship may        be assigned a new order value that is between ord and OrdNext,        non-inclusive.

As previously mentioned, every Item must be a member of an Item Folder.In terms of Relationships, every Item must have a relationship with anItem Folder. In several embodiments of the present invention, certainrelationships are represented by Relationships existing between theItems.

As implemented for various embodiments of the present invention, aRelationship provides a directed binary relationship that is “extended”by one Item (the source) to another Item (the target). A Relationship isowned by the source Item (the Item that extended it), and thus theRelationship is removed if the source is removed (e.g., the Relationshipis deleted when the source Item is deleted). Moreover, in certaininstances, a Relationship may share ownership of (co-own) the targetItem, and such ownership might be reflected in the IsOwned property (orits equivalent) of the Relationship (as shown in FIG. 7 for theRelationship property type). In these embodiments, creation of a newIsOwned Relationship automatically increments a reference count on thetarget Item, and deletion of such a Relationship may decrement thereference count on the target Item. For these specific embodiments,Items continue to exist if they have a reference count greater thanzero, and are automatically deleted if and when the count reaches zero.Again, an Item Folder is an Item that has (or is capable of having) aset of Relationships to other Items, these other Items comprising themembership of the Item Folder. Other actual implementations ofRelationships are possible and anticipated by the present invention toachieve the functionality described herein.

Regardless of actual implementation, a Relationship is a selectableconnection from one object to another. The ability for an Item to belongto more than one Item Folder, as well as to one or more Categories, andwhether these Items, Folders, and Categories are public or private, isdetermined by the meanings given to the existence (or lack thereof) inan Item-based structure. These logical Relationships are the meaningsassigned to a set of Relationships, regardless of physicalimplementation, which are specifically employed to achieve thefunctionality described herein. Logical Relationships are establishedbetween the Item and its Item Folder(s) or Categories (and vice versa)because, in essence, Item Folders and Categories are each a special typeof Item. Consequently, Item Folders and Categories can be acted upon thesame way as any other Item—copied, added to an email message, embeddedin a document, and so and so forth without limitation—and Item Foldersand Categories can be serialized and de-serialized (imported andexported) using the same mechanisms as for other Items. (For example, inXML all Items might have a serialization format, and this format appliesequally to Item Folders, Categories, and Items.)

The aforementioned Relationships, which represent the relationshipbetween an Item and it Item Folder(s) can logically extend from the Itemto the Item Folder, from the Item Folder to the Item, or both. ARelationship that logically extends from an Item to an Item Folderdenotes that the Item Folder is public to that Item and shares itsmembership information with that Item; conversely, the lack of a logicalRelationship from an Item to an Item Folder denotes that the Item Folderis private to that Item and does not share its membership informationwith that Item. Similarly, a Relationship that logically extends from anItem Folder to an Item denotes that the Item is public and sharable tothat Item Folder, whereas the lack of a logical Relationship from theItem Folder to the Item denotes that the Item is private andnon-sharable. Consequently, when an Item Folder is exported to anothersystem, it is the “public” Items that are shared in the new context, andwhen an Item searches its Items Folders for other, sharable Items, it isthe “public” Item Folders that provide the Item with informationregarding sharable Items that belong thereto.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an Item Folder (which, again, isan Item itself), its member Items, and the interconnecting Relationshipsbetween the Item Folder and its member Items. The Item Folder 900 has asmembers a plurality of Items 902, 904, and 906. Item Folder 900 has aRelationship 912 from itself to Item 902 which denotes that the Item 902is public and sharable to Item Folder 900, its members 904 and 906, andany other Item Folders, Categories, or Items (not shown) that mightaccess Item Folder 900. However, there is no Relationship from Item 902to the Item Folder 900 which denotes that Item Folder 900 is private toItem 902 and does not share its membership information with Item 902.Item 904, on the other hand, does have a Relationship 924 from itself toItem Folder 900 which denotes that the Item Folder 900 is public andshares its membership information with Item 904. However, there is noRelationship from the Item Folder 900 to Item 904 which denotes thatItem 904 is private and not sharable to Item Folder 900, its othermembers 902 and 906, and any other Item Folders, Categories, or Items(not shown) that might access Item Folder 900. In contrast with itsRelationships (or lack thereof) to Items 902 and 904, Item Folder 900has a Relationship 916 from itself to the Item 906 and Item 906 has aRelationship 926 back to Item Folder 900, which together denote thatItem 906 is public and sharable to Item Folder 900, its members 902 and904, and any other Item Folders, Categories, or Items (not shown) thatmight access Item Folder 900, and that Item Folder 900 is public andshares its membership information with Item 906.

As previously discussed, the Items in an Item Folder do not need toshare a commonality because Item Folders are not “described.”Categories, on the other hand, are described by a commonality that iscommon to all of its member Items. Consequently the membership of aCategory is inherently limited to Items having the described commonalityand, in certain embodiments, all Items meeting the description of aCategory are automatically made members of the Category. Thus, whereasItem Folders allow trivial type structures to be represented by theirmembership, Categories allow membership based on the definedcommonality.

Of course Category descriptions are logical in nature, and therefore aCategory may be described by any logical representation of types,properties, and/or values. For example, a logical representation for aCategory may be its membership to comprise Items have one of twoproperties or both. If these described properties for the Category are“A” and “B”, then the Categories membership may comprise Items havingproperty A but not B, Items having property B but not A, and Itemshaving both properties A and B. This logical representation ofproperties is described by the logical operator “OR” where the set ofmembers described by the Category are Items having property A OR B.Similar logical operands (including without limitation “AND”, “XOR”, and“NOT” alone or in combination) can also be used describe a category aswill be appreciated by those of skill in the art.

Despite the distinction between Item Folders (not described) andCategories (described), Categories Relationship to Items and ItemsRelationship to Categories essentially the same way as disclosed hereinabove for Item Folders and Items in many embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a Category (which, again, is anItem itself), its member Items, and the interconnecting Relationshipsbetween the Category and its member Items. The Category 1000 has asmembers a plurality of Items 1002, 1004, and 1006, all of which sharesome combination of common properties, values, or types 1008 asdescribed (commonality description 1008′) by the Category 1000. Category1000 has a Relationship 1012 from itself to Item 1002 which denotes thatthe Item 1002 is public and sharable to Category 1000, its members 1004and 1006, and any other Categories, Item Folders, or Items (not shown)that might access Category 1000. However, there is no Relationship fromthe Item 1002 to the Category 1000 which denotes that Category 1000 isprivate to Item 1002 and does not share its membership information withItem 1002. Item 1004, on the other hand, does have a Relationship 1024from itself to Category 1000 which denotes that the Category 1000 ispublic and shares its membership information with Item 1004. However,there is no Relationship extended from Category 1000 to the Item 1004which denotes that Item 1004 is private and not sharable to Category1000, its other members 1002 and 1006, and any other Categories, ItemFolders, or Items (not shown) that might access Category 1000. Incontrast to its Relationships (or lack thereof) with Items 1002 and1004, Category 1000 has a Relationship 1016 from itself to Item 1006 andItem 1006 has a Relationship 1026 back to Category 1000, whichaltogether denotes that Item 1006 is public and sharable to Category1000, its Item members 1002 and 1004, and any other Categories, ItemFolders, or Items (not shown) that might access Category 1000, and thatthe Category 1000 is public and shares its membership information withItem 1006.

Finally, because Categories and Item Folders are themselves Items, andItems may Relationship to each other, Categories may Relationship toItem Folders and vice versa, and Categories, Item Folders, and Items canRelationship to other Categories, Item Folders, and Item respectively incertain alternative embodiments. However, in various embodiments, ItemFolder structures and/or Category structures are prohibited, at thehardware/software interface system level, from containing cycles. WhereItem Folder and Category structures are akin to directed graphs, theembodiments that prohibit cycles are akin to directed acyclic graphs(DAGs) which, by mathematical definition in the art of graph theory, aredirected graphs wherein no path starts and ends at the same vertex.

6. Extensibility

The storage platform is intended to be provided with an initial set ofschemas 340, as described above. In addition, however, in at least someembodiments, the storage platform allows customers, includingindependent software vendor (ISVs), to create new schemas 344 (i.e. newItem and Nested Element types). This section addresses the mechanism forcreating such schemas by extending the Item types and Nested Elementtypes (or simply “Element” types) defined in the initial set of schemas340.

Preferably, extension of the initial set of Item and Nested Elementtypes is constrained as follows:

-   -   an ISV is allowed to introduce new Item types, i.e. subtype        Base.Item;    -   an ISV is allowed to introduce new Nested Element types, i.e.        subtype Base.NestedElement;    -   an ISV is allowed to introduce new extensions, i.e. subtype        Base.NestedElement; but,    -   an ISV cannot subtype any types (Item, Nested Element, or        Extension types) defined by the initial set of storage platform        schemas 340.

Since an Item type or Nested Element type defined by the initial set ofstorage platform schemas may not exactly match an ISV application'sneed, it is necessary to allow ISVs to customize the type. This isallowed with the notion of Extensions. Extensions are strongly typedinstances but (a) they cannot exist independently and (b) they must beattached to an Item or Nested Element.

In addition to addressing the need for schema extensibility, Extensionsare also intended to address the “multi-typing” issue. Since, in someembodiments, the storage platform may not support multiple inheritanceor overlapping subtypes, applications can use Extensions as a way tomodel overlapping type instances (e.g. Document is a legal document aswell a secure document).

a) Item Extensions

To provide Item extensibility, the data model further defines anabstract type named Base.Extension. This is a root type for thehierarchy of extension types. Applications can subtype Base.Extension tocreate specific extension types.

The Base.Extension type is defined in the Base schema as follows:

<Type Name=“Base.Extension” IsAbstract=“True”> <Propety Name=“ItemID”Type=“the storage platformTypes.uniqueidentified” Nullable=“false”MultiValued=“false”/> <Property Name=“ExtensionID” Type=“the storageplatformTypes.uniqueidentified” Nullable=“false” MultiValued=“false”/></Type>

The ItemID field contains the ItemID of the item that the extension isassociated with. An Item with this ItemID must exist. The extension cannot be created if the item with the given ItemID does not exist. Whenthe Item is deleted all the extensions with the same ItemID are deleted.The tuple (ItemID,ExtensionID) uniquely identifies an extensioninstance.

The structure of an extension type is similar to that of an item type:

-   -   Extension types have fields;    -   Fields can be of primitive or nested element types; and    -   Extension types can be sub-typed.

The following restrictions apply for extension types

-   -   Extensions can not be sources and targets of relationships;    -   Extension type instances can not exist independently from an        item; and    -   Extension types can not be used as field types in the storage        platform type definitions

There are no constraints on the types of extensions that can beassociated with a given Item type. Any extension type is allowed toextend any item type. When multiple extension instances are attached toan item, they are independent from each other in both structure andbehavior.

The extension instances are stored and accessed separately from theitem. All extension type instances are accessible from a globalextension view. An efficient query can be composed that will return allthe instances of a given type of extension regardless of what type ofitem they are associated with. The storage platform APIs provides aprogramming model that can store, retrieve and modify extensions onitems.

The extension types can be type sub-typed using the storage platformsingle inheritance model. Deriving from an extension type creates a newextension type. The structure or the behavior of an extension cannotoverride or replace the structure or behaviors of the item typehierarchy.

Similar to Item types, Extension type instances can be directly accessedthrough the view associated with the extension type. The ItemID of theextension indicates which item they belong to and can be used toretrieve the corresponding Item object from the global Item view.

The extensions are considered part of the item for the purposes ofoperational consistency. The Copy/Move, Backup/Restore and other commonoperations that the storage platform defines may operate on theextensions as part of the item.

Consider the following example. A Contact type is defined in the WindowsType set.

<Type Name=″Contact″ BaseType=“Base.Item” > <Property Name=″Name″Type=″String″ Nullable=″false″ MultiValued=″false″/> <PropertyName=″Address″ Type=″Address″ Nullable=″true″ MultiValued=″false″/></Type>

A CRM application developer would like to attach a CRM applicationextension to the contacts stored in the storage platform. Theapplication developer would define a CRM extension that would containthe additional data structure that the application can manipulate.

<Type Name=“CRMExtension” BaseType=“Base.Extension” > <PropertyName=“CustomerID” Type=“String” Nullable=“false” MultiValued=“false”/>... </Type>

An HR application developer may want to also attach additional data withthe Contact. This data is independent from the CRM application data.Again the application developer can create an extension

<Type Name=“HRExtension” EBaseType=“Base.Extension” > <PropertyName=“EmployeeID” Type=“String” Nullable=“false” MultiValued=“false”/>... </Type>

CRMExtension and KRExtension are two independent extensions that can beattached to Contact items. They are created and accessed independentlyof each other.

In the above example, the fields and methods of the CRMExtension typecannot override fields or methods of the Contact hierarchy. It should benoted that instances of the CRMExtension type can be attached to Itemtypes other than Contact.

When the Contact item is retrieved, its item extensions are notautomatically retrieved. Given a Contact item, its related itemextensions can be accessed by querying the global extension view forextensions with the same ItemId.

All CRMExtension extensions in the system can be accessed through theCRMExtension type view, regardless of which item they belong to. Allitem extension of an item share the same item id. In the above example,the Contact item instance and the attached CRMExtension and HRExtensioninstances the same ItemID.

The following table summarizes the similarities and differences betweenItem, Extension and NestedElement types:

Item vs Item Extension vs NestedElement

Item Item Extension NestedElement Item ID Has its own Shares the itemDoes not have its item id id of the item own item id. Nested element ispart of the item Storage Item hierarchy Item extension Stored with itemis stored in its hierarchy is own tables stored in its own tablesQuery/Search Can query item Can query item Can generally be tablesextension queried only within tables the containing item contextQuery/Search Can search Can search Can generally only scope across allacross all search within nested instances of an instances of an elementtype item type item extension instances of a singe type (containing)item Relationship Can have Rela- No Relation- No Relationships tosemantics tionships to ships to item nested elements items extensionsAssociation Can be related Can generally Related to item via to items toother items only be related fields. Nested via holding, via extensions.elements are part of embedded and The extension the item soft semanticsis Relationships similar to embedded item semantics

b) Extending NestedElement Types

Nested Element types are not extended with the same mechanism as theItem types. Extensions of nested elements are stored and accessed withthe same mechanisms as fields of nested element types.

The data model defines a root for nested element types named Element:

<Type Name=“Element” IsAbstract=“True”> <Property Name=“ElementID”Type=“the storage platformTypes.uniqueidentifier” Nullable=“false”MultiValued=“false”/> </Type>

The NestedElement type inherits from this type. The NestedElementelement type additionally defines a field that is a multi-set ofElements.

<Type Name=“NestedElement” BaseType=“Base.Element” IsAbstract=“True”><Property Name=“Extensions” Type=“Base.Element” Nullable=“false”MultiValued=“true”/> </Type>

The NestedElement extensions are different from item extensions in thefollowing ways:

-   -   Nested element extensions are not extension types. They do not        belong to the extension type hierarchy that is rooted in the        Base.Extension type.    -   Nested element extensions are stored along with the other fields        of the item and are not globally accessible—a query can not be        composed that retrieves all instances of a given extension type.

These extensions are stored the same way as other nested elements (ofthe item) are stored. Like other nested sets, the NestedElementextensions are stored in a UDT. They are accessible through theExtensions field of the nested element type.

The collection interfaces used to access multi-valued properties is alsoused for accessing and iterating over set of type extensions.

The following table summarizes and compares Item Extensions andNestedElement extensions.

Item Extensions vs NestedElement Extensions

Item Extension NestedElement Extension Storage Item extension Storedlike hierarchy is nested elements stored in its own tables Query/SearchCan query item Can generally only be extension queried within the tablescontaining item context Query/Search Can search across all Can generallyonly search scope instances of an item within nested element typeextension type instances of a singe (containing) item ProgrammabilityNeed special extension NestedElement extensions APIs and special arelike any other multi- querying on valued field of nested extensiontables element; normal nested element type APIs are used Behavior Canassociate behavior No behavior permitted (?) Relationship NoRelationships No Relationships to semantics to item extensionsNestedElement extensions Item ID Shares the item Does not have its ownitem id of the item id. NestedElement extension is part of the item

D. Database Engine

As mentioned above, the data store is implemented on a database engine.In the present embodiment, the database engine comprises a relationaldatabase engine that implements the SQL query language, such as theMicrosoft SQL Server engine, with object relational extensions. Thissection describes the mapping of the data model that the data storeimplements to the relational store and provides information on thelogical API consumed by storage platform clients, in accordance with thepresent embodiment. It is understood, however, that a different mappingmay be employed when a different database engine is employed. Indeed, inaddition to implementing the storage platform conceptual data model on arelational database engine, it can also be implemented on other types ofdatabases, e.g. object-oriented and XML databases.

An object-oriented (OO) database system provides persistence andtransactions for programming language objects (e.g. C++, Java). Thestorage platform notion of an “item” maps well to an “Object” inobject-oriented systems, though embedded collections would have to beadded to Objects. Other storage platform type concepts, like inheritanceand nested element types, also map object-oriented type systems.Object-oriented systems typically already support object identity;hence, item identity can be mapped to object identity. The itembehaviors (operations) map well to object methods. However,object-oriented systems typically lack organizational capabilities andare poor in searching. Also, object-oriented systems to do not providesupport for unstructured and semi-structured data. To support thecomplete storage platform data model described herein, concepts likerelationships, folders, and extensions would need to be added to theobject data model. In addition, mechanisms like promotions,synchronization, notifications, and security would need to beimplemented.

Similar to object-oriented systems, XML databases, based on XSD (XMLSchema Definition), support a single-inheritance based type system. Theitem type system of the present invention could be mapped to the XSDtype model. XSDs also do not provide support for behaviors. The XSDs foritems would have to be augmented with item behaviors. XML databases dealwith single XSD documents and lack organization and broad searchcapabilities. As with object-oriented databases, to support the datamodel described herein, other concepts like relationships, and folderswould need to be incorporated into such XML databases; also, mechanismslike synchronization, notifications and security would need to beimplemented.

1. Data Store Implementation Using UDTs

In the present embodiment, the relational database engine 314, which inone embodiment comprises the Microsoft SQL Server engine, supportsbuilt-in scalar types. Built-in scalar types are “native” and “simple”.They are native in the sense that the user cannot define their own typesand they are simple in that they cannot encapsulate a complex structure.User-defined types (hereinafter: UDTs) provide a mechanism for typeextensibility above and beyond the native scalar type system by enablingusers to extend the type system by defining complex, structured types.Once defined by a user, a UDT can be used anywhere in the type systemthat a built-in scalar type might be used.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the storageplatform schemas are mapped to UDT classes in the database engine store.Data store Items are mapped to UDT classes deriving from the Base.Itemtype. Like Items, Extensions are also mapped to UDT classes and make useof inheritance. The root Extension type is Base.Extension, from whichall Extension types are derived.

A UDT is a CLR class—it has state (i.e., data fields) and behavior(i.e., routines). UDTs are defined using any of the managedlanguages—C#, VB.NET, etc. UDT methods and operators can be invoked inT-SQL against an instance of that type. A UDT can be: the type of acolumn in a row, the type of a parameter of a routine in T-SQL, or thetype of a variable in T-SQL.

The following example illustrates the basics of UDTs. Assume thatMapLib.dll has the assembly called MapLib. In this assembly, there's aclass called Point, under the namespace BaseTypes:

namespace BaseTypes { public class Point { //returns the distance fromthe specified point. public double Distance(Point p) { // return thedistance between Point p and this Point } // other stuff in the class }}The following T-SQL code binds the class Point to a SQL Server UDTcalled Point. The first step invokes “CreateAssembly”, which loads theMapLib assembly into the database. The second step invokes “Create Type”to create the User Defined Type “Point” and bind it to the managed typeBaseTypes.Point:

CREATE ASSEMBLY MapLib FROM ‘\\mysrv\share\MapLib.dll’ go CREATE TYPEPoint EXTERNAL NAME ‘BaseTypes.Point’ goOnce created, the “Point” UDT can be used as a column in a table andmethods can be invoked in T-SQL as shown below:

Create table Cities( Name varchar(20), State varchar(20), LocationPoint) -- Retrieve the Distance of the cities -- from co-ordinates(32,23) Declare @p point(32, 23), @distance float SelectLocation::Distance(@p) From Cities

The mapping of storage platform schemas to UDT classes is fairlystraightforward at a high level. Generally, a storage platform Schema ismapped to a CLR namespace. A storage platform Type is mapped to a CLRclass. The CLR class inheritance mirrors the storage platform Typeinheritance, and a storage platform Property is mapped to a CLR classproperty.

The Item hierarchy illustrated in FIG. 29 is used as an example in thisdocument. It shows the Base.Item type from which all Item types arederived, along with a set of derived Item types (e.g., Contact.Personand Contact. Employee), with inheritance indicated by arrows.

2. Item Mapping

Given the desirability for Items to be globally searchable, and thesupport in the relational database of the present embodiment forinheritance and type substitutability, one possible implementation forItem storage in the database store would be to store all Items in asingle table with a column of type Base.Item. Using typesubstitutability, Items of all types could be stored, and searches couldbe filtered by Item type and sub-type using Yukon's “is of (Type)”operator.

However, due to concerns about the overhead associated with such anapproach, in the present embodiment, the Items are divided by top-leveltype, such that Items of each type “family” are stored in a separatetable. Under this partitioning scheme, a table is created for each Itemtype inheriting directly from Base.Item. Types inheriting below theseare stored in the appropriate type family table using typesubstitutability, as described above. Only the first level ofinheritance from Base.Item is treated specially. For the example Itemhierarchy shown in FIG. 29, this results in the following type familytables:

create table Contact.[Table!Person] ( _Item Contact.Person not null,{Change tracking information} ) create table Doc.[Table!Document] (_Item Doc.Document not null, {Change tracking information} )

A “shadow” table is used to store copies of globally searchableproperties for all Items. This table may be maintained by the Update( )method of the storage platform API, through which all data changes aremade. Unlike the type family tables, this global Item table containsonly the top-level scalar properties of the Item, not the full UDT Itemobject. The structure of the global Item table is as follows:

create table Base.[Table!Item] ( ItemID  uniqueidentifier notnull constraint [PK_Clu_Item!ItemID] primary key clustered,TypeID uniqueidentifier not null, {Additional Properties of Base.Item},{Change tracking information} )

The global Item table allows navigation to the Item object stored in atype family table by exposing an ItemID and a TypeID. The ItemID willgenerally uniquely identify the Item within the data store. The TypeIDmay be mapped using metadata, which is not described here, to a typename and the view containing the Item.

Since finding an Item by its ItemID may be a common operation, both inthe context of the global Item table and otherwise, a GetItem( )function is provided to retrieve an Item object given an Item's ItemID.This function has the following declaration:

Base.Item Base.GetItem (uniqueidentifier ItemID)

For convenient access and to hide implementation details to the extentpossible, all queries of Items might be against views built on the Itemtables described above. Specifically, views may be created for each Itemtype against the appropriate type family table. These type views mayselect all Items of the associated type, including sub-types. Forconvenience, in addition to the UDT object, the views may expose columnsfor all of the top-level fields of that type, including inheritedfields. Views for the example Item hierarchy shown in FIG. 29 are asfollows:

create view Contact.Person as select _Item.ItemID, {Properties ofBase.Item}, {Properties of Contact.Person}, {Change trackinginformation}, _Item from Contact.[Table!Person] --Note that theContact.Employee view uses a “where” predicate -- to restrict the set offound Items to instances of Contact.Employee create viewContact.Employee as select _Item.ItemID, {Properties of Base.Item},{Properties of Contact.Person}, {Properties of Contact.Employee},{Change tracking information}, cast (_Item as Contact.Employee) fromContact.[Table!Person] where _Item is of (Contact.Employee) create viewDoc.Document as select _Item.ItemID, {Properties of Base.Item},{Properties of Doc.Document}, {Change tracking information}, _Item fromDoc.[Table!Document] --Note that the Doc.WordDocument view uses a“where” predicate -- to restrict the set of found Items to instances ofDoc.WordDocument create view Doc.WordDocument as select _Item.ItemID,{Properties of Base.Item}, {Properties of Doc.Document}, {Properties ofDoc.WordDocument}, {Change tracking information}, cast (_Item asDoc.WordDocument) from Doc.[Table!Document] where _Item is of(Doc.WordDocument)

For completeness, a view may also be created over the global Item table.This view may initially expose the same columns as the table:

create view Base.Item as select ItemID, TypeID, {Properties ofBase.Item}, {Change tracking information} from Base.[Table!Item]

3. Extension Mapping

Extensions are very similar to Items and have some of the samerequirements. As another root type supporting inheritance, Extensionsare subject to many of the same considerations and trade-offs instorage. Because of this, a similar type family mapping is applied toExtensions, rather than a single table approach. Of course, in otherembodiments, a single table approach could be used.

In the present embodiment, an Extension is associated with exactly oneItem by ItemID, and contains an ExtensionID that is unique in thecontext of the Item. The Extension table has the following definition:

create table Base.[Table!Extension] ( ItemID uniqueidentifier not null,ExtensionID uniqueidentifier not null, TypeID uniqueidentifier not null,{Properties of Base.Extension}, {Change tracking information},constraint [PK_Clu_Extension!ItemID!ExtensionID] primary key clustered(ItemID asc, ExtensionID asc) )

As with Items, a function might be provided to retrieve an Extensiongiven its identity, which consists of an ItemID and ExtensionID pair.This function has the following declaration:

Base.Extension Base.GetExtension (uniqueidentifier ItemID,uniqueidentifier ExtensionID,)

A View is created for each Extension type, similar to the Item typeviews. Assume an Extension hierarchy parallel to the example Itemhierarchy, with the following types: Base.Extension,Contact.PersonExtension, Contact.EmployeeExtension. The following viewsmay be created:

create view Base.Extension as select ItemID, ExtensionID, TypeID,{Properties of Base.Extension}, {Change tracking information} fromBase.[Table!Extension] create view Contact.[Extension!PersonExtension]as select _Extension.ItemID, _Extension.ExtensionID, {Properties ofBase.Extension, {Properties of Contact.PersonExtension}, {Changetracking information}, _Extension from Base.[Table!PersonExtension]create view Contact.[Extension!EmployeeExtension] as select_Extension.ItemID, _Extension.Extension ID, {Properties ofBase.Extension}, {Properties of Contact.Person Extension}, {Propertiesof Contact.EmployeeExtension}, {Change tracking information}, cast(_Extension as Contact.EmployeeExtension) fromBase.[Table!PersonExtension] where _Extension is of(Contact.EmployeeExtension)

4. Nested Element Mapping

Nested Elements are types that can be embedded in Items, Extensions,Relationships, or other Nested Elements to form deeply nestedstructures. Like Items and Extensions, Nested Elements are implementedas UDT'S, but they are stored within an Items and Extensions. Therefore,Nested Elements have no storage mapping beyond that of their Item andExtension containers. In other words, there are no tables in the systemwhich directly store instances of NestedElement types, and there are noviews dedicated specifically to Nested Elements.

5. Object Identity

Each entity in the data model, i.e., each Item, Extension andRelationship, has a unique key value. An Item is uniquely identified byits ItemId. An Extension is uniquely identified by a composite key of(ItemId, ExtensionId). A Relationship is identified by a composite key(ItemId, RelationshipId). ItemId, ExtensionId and RelationshipId areGUID values.

6. SQL Object Naming

All objects created in the data store can be stored in a SQL schema namederived from the storage platform schema name. For example, the storageplatform Base schema (often called “Base”) may produce types in the“[System.Storage]” SQL schema such as “[System.Storage].Item”. Generatednames are prefixed by a qualifier to eliminate naming conflicts. Whereappropriate, an exclamation character (!) is used as a separator foreach logical part of the name. The table below outlines the namingconvention used for objects in the data store. Each schema element(Item, Extension, Relationship and View), is listed along with thedecorated naming convention used to access instances in the data store.

Object Name Decoration Description Example Master Item Master!ItemProvides a [System.Storage]. Search View summary of items [Master!Item]in the current item domain. Typed Item ItemType Provides all[AcmeCorp.Doc]. search view property data [OfficeDoc] from item and anyparent type(s). Master Master!Extension Provides a [System.Storage].Extension summary of all [Master!Extension] Search View extensions inthe current item domain. Typed Extension!extensionType Provides all[AcmeCorp.Doc]. extension property data for [Extension!StickyNote]search view extension. Master Master!Relationship Provides a[System.Storage]. Relationship summary of all [Master!Relationship] Viewrelationships in the current item domain. RelationshipRelationship!relationship Provides all data [AcmeCorp.Doc]. view Nameassociated with a [Relationship!AuthorsFrom given relationship Document]View View!viewName Provides the [AcmeCorp.Doc]. columns/types[View!DocumentTitles] based on the schema view definition.

7. Column Naming

When mapping any object model into a store, the possibility of namingcollisions occur due to additional information stored along with anapplication object. In order to avoid naming collisions, all non-typespecific columns (columns which do not map directly to a named Propertyin a type declaration) is be prefixed with an underscore (_) character.In the present embodiment, underscore (_) characters are disallowed asthe beginning character of any identifier property. Further, in order tounify naming between CLR and the data store, all properties of a storageplatform types or schema element (relationship, etc.) should have acapitalized first character.

8. Search Views

Views are provided by the storage platform for searching stored content.A SQL view is provided for each Item and Extension type. Further, viewsare provided to support Relationships and Views (as defined by the DataModel). All SQL views and underlying tables in the storage platform areread-only. Data may be stored or changed using the Update( ) method ofthe storage platform API, as described more fully below.

Each view explicitly defined in a storage platform schema (defined bythe schema designer, and not automatically generated by the storageplatform) is accessible by the named SQL view[<schema-name>].[View!<view-name>]. For example, a view named“BookSales” in the schema “AcmePublisher.Books” would be accessibleusing the name “[AcmePublisher.Books].[View!BookSales]”. Since theoutput format of a view is custom on a per-view basis (defined by anarbitrary query provided by the party defining the view), the columnsare directly mapped based on the schema view definition.

All SQL search views in the storage platform data store use thefollowing ordering convention for columns:

-   -   1. Logical “key” column (s) of view result such as ItemId,        ElementId, RelationshipId, . . .    -   2. Metadata information on type of result such as TypeId.    -   3. Change tracking columns such as CreateVersion, UpdateVersion,        . . .    -   4. Type specific column(s) (Properties of the declared type)    -   5. Type specific views (family views) also contain an object        column which returns the object

Members of each type family are searchable using a series of Item views,with there being one view per Item type in the data store.

a) Item

Each Item search view contains a row for each instance of an Item of thespecific type or its subtypes. For example, the view for Document couldreturn instances of Document, LegalDocument and ReviewDocument. Giventhis example, the Item views can be conceptualized as shown in FIG. 28.

(1) Master Item Search View

Each instance of a storage platform data store defines a special Itemview called the Master Item View. This view provides summary informationon each Item in the data store. The view provides one column per Itemtype property, a column which described the type of the Item and severalcolumns which are used to provide change tracking and synchronizationinformation. The master item view is identified in a data store usingthe name “[System.Storage].[Master!Item]”.

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId The storage platform identity ofthe Item _TypeId TypeId The TypeId of the Item—identifies the exact typeof the Item and can be used to retrieve information on the type using aMetadata catalog. _RootItemId ItemId The ItemId of the firstnon-embedded ancestor that controls the lifetime of this item. <global .. . Global change tracking change information tracking> <Item n/a Onecolumn per Item type props> property

(2) Typed Item Search Views

Each Item type also has a search view. While similar to the root Itemview, this view also provides access to the Item object via the “_Item”column. Each typed item search view is identified in a data store usingthe name [schemaName].[itemTypeName]. For example [AcmeCorp.Doc].[OfficeDoc].

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId The storage platform identity ofthe Item <type change . . . Type change tracking tracking> information<parent props> <property One column per parent specific> property <itemprops> <property One column per exclusive specific> property of thistype _Item CLR type of Item CLR object—type of declared Item

b) Item Extensions

All Item Extensions in a WinFS Store are also accessible using searchviews.

(1) Master Extension Search View

Each instance of a data store defines a special Extension view calledthe Master Extension View. This view provides summary information oneach Extension in the data store. The view has a column per Extensionproperty, a column which describes the type of the Extension and severalcolumns which are used to provide change tracking and synchronizationinformation. The master extension view is identified in a data storeusing the name “[System.Storage]. [Master!Extension]”.

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId The storage platform identity ofthe Item with which this extension is associated ExtensionId ExtensionIdId of this extension instance (GUID) _TypeId TypeId The TypeId of theExtension— identifies the exact type of the extension and can be used toretrieve information on the extension using the Metadata catalog.<global change . . . Global change tracking tracking> information <extproperties> <property One column per Extension specific> type property

(2) Typed Extension Search Views

Each Extension type also has a search view. While similar to the masterextension view, this view also provides access to the Item object viathe _Extension column. Each typed extension search view is identified ina data store using the name [schemaName].[Extension !extensionTypeName].For example [AcmeCorp.Doc].[Extension !OfficeDocExt].

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId The storage platform identity ofthe Item with which this extension is associated ExtensionId ExtensionIdId of this extension instance (GUID) <type change . . . Type changetracking tracking> information <parent <property One column per parentprops> specific> property <ext props> <property One column per exclusivespecific> property of this type _Extension CLR type of CLR object—typeof Extension declared Extension instance

c) Nested Elements

All nested elements are stored within Items, Extensions or Relationshipsinstances. As such, they are accessed by querying the appropriate Item,Extension, or Relationship search view.

d) Relationships

As discussed above, Relationships form the fundamental unit of linkingbetween Items in a storage platform data store.

(1) Master Relationship Search View

Each data store provides a Master Relationship View. This view providesinformation on all relationship instances in the data store. The masterrelationship view is identified in a data store using the name“[System.Storage].[Master!Relationship]”.

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId Identity of source endpoint(ItemId) RelationshipId RelationshipId The id of the (GUID) relationshipinstance _RelTypeId RelationshipTypeId The RelTypeId of theRelationship— identifies the type of the relationship instance using theMetadata catalog. <global change . . . Global change tracking> trackinginformation. TargetItemReference ItemReference Identity of targetendpoint _Relationship Relationship Instance of the Relationship objectfor this instance

(2) Relationship Instance Search Views

Each declared Relationship also has a search view which returns allinstances of the particular relationship. While similar to the masterrelationship view, this view also provides named columns for eachproperty of the relationship data. Each relationship instance searchview is identified in a data store using the name [schemaName].[Relationship! relationshipName]. For example[AcmeCorp.Doc].[Relationship !DocumentAuthor].

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId Identify of source endpoint(ItemId) RelationshipId RelationshipId The id of the (GUID) relationshipinstance <type change . . . Type change tracking> tracking informationTargetItemReference ItemReference Identity of target endpoint <sourcename> ItemId Named property of source endpoint identity (alias forItemId) <target name> ItemReference or Named property of derived classtarget endpoint identity (alias and cast for TargetItemReference) <relproperty> <property One column per specific> property of therelationship definition _Relationship CLR type of CLR object—type ofRelationship declare Relationship instance

9. Updates

All views in the storage platform data store are read-only. In order tocreate a new instance of a data model element (item, extension orrelationship), or to update an existing instance, the ProcessOperationor ProcessUpdategram methods of the storage platform API must be used.The ProcessOperation method is a single stored procedure defined by thedata store which consumes an “operation” that details an action to beperformed. The ProcessUpdategram method is a stored procedure whichtakes an ordered set of operations, known as an “updategram”, whichcollectively detail a set of actions to be performed.

The operation format is extensible and provides various operations overthe schema elements. Some common operations include:

-   -   1. Item operations:        -   a. CreateItem (Creates a new item in the context of an            embedding or holding relationship)        -   b. UpdateItem (updates an existing Item)    -   2. Relationship operations:        -   a. CreateRelationship (creates an instance of a reference or            holding relationship)        -   b. UpdateRelationship (updates a relationship instance)        -   c. DeleteRelationship (removes a relationship instances)    -   3. Extension operations:        -   a. CreateExtension (adds an extension to an existing Item)        -   b. UpdateExtension (updates an existing extension)        -   c. DeleteExtension (deletes an extension)

10. Change Tracking & Tombstones

Change tracking and tombstone services are provided by the data store,as discussed more fully below. This section provides an outline of thechange tracking information exposed in a data store.

a) Change Tracking

Each search view provided by the data store contains columns used toprovide change tracking information; the columns are common across allItem, Extension and Relationship views. Storage platform Schema Views,defined explicitly by schema designers, do not automatically providechange tracking information—such information is provided indirectlythrough the search views on which the view itself is built.

For each element in the data store, change tracking information isavailable from two places—the “master” element view and the “typed”element view. For example, change tracking information on theAcmeCorp.Document.Document Item type is available from the Master ItemView “[System.Storage].[Master!Item]” and typed Item search view[AcmeCorp.Document].[Document].

(1) Change Tracking in “Master” Search Views

Change tracking information in the master search views providesinformation on the creation and update versions of an element,information on which sync partner created the element, which syncpartner last updated the element and the version numbers from eachpartner for creation and update. Partners in sync relationships(described below) are identified by partner key. A single UDT objectnamed _ChangeTrackingInfo of type[System.Storage.Store].ChangeTrackingInfo contains all this information.The type is defined in the System.Storage schema. _ChangeTrackingInfo isavailable in all global search views for Item, Extension andRelationship. The type definition of ChangeTrackingInfo is:

<Type Name=“ChangeTrackingInfo” BaseType=“Base.NestedElement”><FieldProperty Name=“CreationLocalTS” Type=“SqlTypes.SqlInt64”Nullable=“False” /> <FieldProperty Name=“CreatingPartnerKey”Type=“SqlTypes.SqlInt32” Nullable=“False” /> <FieldPropertyName=“CreatingPartnerTS” Type=“SqlTypes.SqlInt64” Nullable=“False” /><FieldProperty Name=“LastUpdateLocalTS” Type=“SqlTypes.SqlInt64”Nullable=“False” /> <FieldProperty Name=“LastUpdatingPartnerKey”Type=“SqlTypes.SqlInt32” Nullable=“False” /> <FieldPropertyName=“LastUpdatingPartnerTS” Type=“SqlTypes.SqlInt64” Nullable=“False”/> </Type>

These properties contain the following information:

Column Description _CreationLocalTS Creation time stamp by the localmachine _CreatingPartnerKey PartnerKey of the partner who created thisentity. If the entity was locally created, this is the local machine'sPartnerKey. _CreatingPartnerTS Timestamp of the time at which thisentity was created at the partner corresponding to _CreatingPartnerKey._LastUpdateLocalTS Local timestamp corresponding to the update time atthe local machine _LastUpdatingPartnerKey PartnerKey of the partner wholast updated this entity. If the last update to the entity was donelocally, this is the local machine's PartnerKey. _LastUpdatingPartnerTSTimestamp of the time at which this entity was updated at the partnercorresponding to _LastUpdatingPartnerKey.

(2) Change Tracking in “Typed” Search Views

In addition to providing the same information as the global search view,each typed search view provides additional information recording thesync state of each element in the sync topology.

Column Type Description <global change . . . Information from globalchange tracking> tracking _ChangeUnitVersionsMultiSet<ChangeUnitVersion> Description of version numbers of the changeunits within the particular element _ElementSyncMetadataElementSyncMetadata Additional version-independent metadata about thisitem that is only of interest to the Synchronization runtime._VersionSyncMetadata VersionSyncMetadata Additional version-specificmetadata about this version that is only of interest to theSynchronization runtime

b) Tombstones

The data store provides tombstone information for Items, Extensions andRelationships. The tombstone views provide information about both liveand tombstoned entities (items, extensions and relationships) in oneplace. The item and extension tombstone views do not provide access tothe corresponding object, while the relationship tombstone view providesaccess to the relationship object (the relationship object is NULL inthe case of a tombstoned relationship).

(1) Item Tombstones

Item tombstones are retrieved from the system via the view[System.Storage].[Tombstone !Item].

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId Identity of the Item _TypeIDTypeId Type of the Item <Item properties> . . . Properties defined forall items _RootItemId ItemId ItemId of the first non-embedding itemwhich contains this item. _ChangeTrackingInfo CLR instance of Changetracking type information for ChangeTrackingInfo this item _IsDeletedBIT This is a flag that is 0 for live items, and 1 for tombstoned items._DeletionWallclock UTCDATETIME The UTC wall clock date time according tothe partner which deleted the item. It is NULL if the Item is live.

(2) Extension Tombstones

Extension tombstones are retrieved from the system using the view[System.Storage].[Tombstone!Extension]. Extension change trackinginformation is similar to that provided for Items with the addition ofthe ExtensionId property.

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId Identity of the Item which ownsthe Extension ExtensionId ExtensionId Extension Id of the Extension_TypeID TypeId Type of the extension _ChangeTrackingInfo CLR instance ofChange tracking infor- type mation for this extension ChangeTrackingInfo_IsDeleted BIT This is a flag that is 0 for live items, and 1 fortombstoned extensions. _DeletionWallclock UTCDATETIME The UTC wall clockdate time according to the partner which deleted the extension. It isNULL if the extension is live.

(3) Relationships Tombstone

Relationship tombstones are retrieved from the system via the view[System.Storage].[Tombstone!Relationship]. Relationships tombstoneinformation is similar to that provided for Extensions. However,additional information is provided on the target ItemRef of therelationship instance. In addition, the relationship object is alsoselected.

Column Type Description ItemId ItemId Identity of the Item which ownedthe rela- tionship (identity of relationship source endpoint)RelationshipId RelationshipId RelationshipId of the relationship _TypeIDTypeId Type of the relationship _ChangeTrackingInfo CLR instance ofChange tracking type information for ChangeTrackingInfo thisrelationship _IsDeleted BIT This is a flag that is 0 for live items, and1 for tombstoned extensions. _DeletionWallclock UTCDATETIME The UTC wallclock date time according to the partner which deleted the relationship.It is NULL if the relationship is live. _Relationship CLR instance of aThis is the relationship Relationship object for live rela- tionship. Itis NULL for tombstoned relationships. TargetItemReference ItemReferenceIdentity of target endpoint

(4) Tombstone Cleanup

In order to prevent unbounded growth of tombstone information, the datastore provides a tombstone cleanup task. This task determines whentombstone information may be discarded. The task computes a bound on thelocal create/update version and then truncates the tombstone informationby discarding all earlier tombstone versions.

11. Helper APIs and Functions

The Base mapping also provides a number of helper functions. Thesefunctions are supplied to aid common operations over the data model.

a) Function [System.Storage].GetItem

Returns an Item object given an ItemId // Item GetItem (ItemId ItemId)

b) Function [System.Storage].GetExtension

// Returns an extension object given an ItemId and ExtensionId //Extension GetExtension (ItemId ItemId, ExtensionId ExtensionId)

c) Function [System.Storage].GetRelationship

// Returns an relationship object given an ItemId and RelationshipId //Relationship GetRelationship (ItemId ItemId, RelationshipIdRelationshipId)

12. Metadata

There are two types of metadata represented in the Store: instancemetadata (the type of an Item, etc), and type metadata.

a) Schema Metadata

Schema metadata is stored in the data store as instances of Item typesfrom the Meta schema.

b) Instance Metadata

Instance metadata is used by an application to query for the type of anItem and finds the extensions associated with an Item. Given the ItemIdfor an Item, an application can query the global item view to return thetype of the Item and use this value to query the Meta.Type view toreturn information on the declared type of the Item. For example,

// Return metadata Item object for given Item instance // SELECT m._ItemAS metadataInfoObj FROM [System.Storage].[Item] i INNER JOIN[Meta].[Type] m ON i._TypeId = m.ItemId WHERE i.ItemId = @ItemId

E. Security

This section describes a security model for the storage platform of thepresent invention, in accordance with one embodiment

1. Overview

In accordance with the present embodiment, the granularity at which thesecurity policy of the storage platform is specified and enforced is atthe level of various operations on an item in a given data store; thereis no ability to secure parts of an item separately from the whole. Thesecurity model specifies the set of principals who can be granted ordenied access to perform these operations on an item through AccessControl Lists (ACL's). Each ACL is an ordered collection of AccessControl Entries (ACE's).

The security policy for an item can be completely described by thediscretionary access control policy and the system access controlpolicy. Each of these is a set of ACL's. The first set (DACL's)describes the discretionary access granted to the various principals bythe owner of the item while the second set of ACL's is referred to asthe SACL's (System Access Control Lists) which specify how the systemauditing is done when an object is manipulated in certain ways. Inaddition to these, each item in the data store is associated with a SIDthat corresponds to the owner of the item (Owner SID).

The primary mechanism for organizing items in a storage platform datastore is that of the containment hierarchy. The containment hierarchy isrealized using holding relationships between items. The holdingrelationship between two items A and B expressed as “A contains B”enables the item A to influence the lifetime of the item B. Generally,an item in the data store cannot exist until there is a holdingrelationship from another item to it. The holding relationship, inaddition to controlling the lifetime of the item, provides the necessarymechanism for propagating the security policy for an item.

The security policy specified for each item consists of two parts—a partthat is explicitly specified for that item and a part that is inheritedfrom the parent of the item in the data store. The explicitly definedsecurity policy for any item consists of two parts—a part that governsaccess to the item under consideration and a part that influences thesecurity policy inherited by all its descendants in the containmenthierarchy. The security policy inherited by a descendant is a functionof the explicitly defined policy and the inherited policy.

Since the security policy is propagated through holding relationshipsand can also be overridden at any item, it is necessary to specify howthe effective security policy for an item is determined. In the presentembodiment, an item in the data store containment hierarchy inherits anACL along every path from the root of the store to the item.

Within the inherited ACL for any given path, the ordering of the variousACE's in the ACL determines the final security policy that is enforced.The following notation is used to describe the ordering of ACE's in anACL. The ordering of the ACE's in an ACL that is inherited by an item isdetermined by the following two rules

The first rule stratifies the ACEs inherited from the various items in apath to the item I from the root of the containment hierarchy. The ACE'sinherited from a closer container takes precedence over the entriesinherited from a distant container. Intuitively, this allows anadministrator the ability to override ACE's inherited from farther up inthe containment hierarchy. The rule is as follows:

For all inherited ACL's L on item I For all items I1, I2 For all ACE'sA1 and A2 in L, I1 is an ancestor of I2 and I2 is an ancestor of I3 andA1 is an ACE inherited from I1 and A2 is an ACE inherited from I2Implies A2 precedes A1 in L

The second rule orders the ACE's that deny access to an item ahead ofthe ACE's that grant access to an item.

For all inherited ACL's L on item I For all items I1 For all ACE's A1and A2 in L, I1 is an ancestor of I2 and A1 is an ACCESS_DENIED_ACEinherited from I1 and A2 is an ACCESS_GRANTED_ACE inherited from I1Implies A1 precedes A2 in L

In the case of a containment hierarchy being a tree, there is exactlyone path from the root of the tree to the item and the item has exactlyone inherited ACL. Under these circumstances, the ACL inherited by anitem matches the ACL inherited by a file (item) in the existing Windowssecurity model in terms of the relative ordering of the ACE's withinthem.

However, the containment hierarchy in the data store is a directedacyclic graph (DAG) because multiple holding relationships are permittedto items. Under these conditions, there are multiple paths to an itemfrom the root of the containment hierarchy. Since an item inherits anACL along every path each item is associated with a collection of ACL'sas opposed to a single one. Note that this is different from thetraditional file system model, where exactly one ACL is associated witha file or folder.

There are two aspects that need to be elaborated when the containmenthierarchy is a DAG as opposed to a tree. A description is needed of howthe effective security policy for an item is computed when it inheritsmore than one ACL from its parents, and how they are organized andrepresented has a direct bearing on the administration of the securitymodel for a storage platform data store.

The following algorithm evaluates the access rights for a givenprincipal to a given item. Throughout this document, the followingnotation is used to describe the ACL's associated with an item.

-   -   Inherited_ACLs(ItemId)—the set of ACL's inherited by an item        whose item identity is ItemId from it's parents in the store.    -   Explicit_ACL(ItemId)—the ACL explicitly defined for the item        whose identity is ItemId.

NTSTATUS ACLAccessCheck( PSID pOwnerSid, PDACL pDacl, DWORDDesiredAccess, HANDLE ClientToken, PPRIVILEGE_SET pPrivilegeSet, DWORD*pGrantedAccess)

The above routine returns STATUS_SUCCESS if the desired access was notexplicitly denied, and the pGrantedAccess determines which of the rightsdesired by the user were granted by the specified ACL. If any of thedesired access was explicitly denied, the routine returnsSTATUS_ACCESS_DENIED.

NTSTATUS WinFSItemAccessCheck( WINFS_ITEMID ItemId, DWORD DesiredAccess,HANDLE ClientToken, PPRIVILEGE_SET pPrivilegeSet) { NTSTATUS Status;PDACL pExplicitACL = NULL; PDACL pInheritedACLs = NULL; DWORDNumberOfInheritedACLs = 0; pExplicitACL = GetExplicitACLForItem(ItemId);GetInheritedACLsForItem(ItemId,&pInheritedACLs,&NumberOfInheritedACLs)Status = ACLAccessCheck( pOwnerSid, pExplicitACL, DesiredAccess,ClientToken, pPrivilegeSet, &GrantedAccess); if (Status !=STATUS_SUCCESS) return Status; if (DesiredAccess = = GrantedAccess)return STATUS_SUCCESS; for ( i = 0; (i < NumberOfInheritedACLs && Status= = STATUS_SUCCESS); i++ ) { GrantedAccessForACL = 0; Status =ACLAccessCheck( pOwnerSid, pExplicitACL, DesiredAccess, ClientToken,pPrivilegeSet, &GrantedAccessForACL); if (Status = = STATUS_SUCCESS) {GrantedAccess |= GrantedAccessForACL; } } If ((Status = =STATUS_SUCCESS) && (GrantedAccess != DesiredAccess)) { Status =STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED; } return Status; }

The sphere of influence of the security policy defined at any itemcovers all the descendants of the item in the containment hierarchydefined on the data store. For all items where in an explicit policy isdefined we are in effect defining a policy that is inherited by all itsdescendants in the containment hierarchy. The effective ACL's inheritedby all of the descendants is obtained by taking each of the ACL'sinherited by the item and adding the inheritable ACE's in the explicitACL to the beginning of the ACL. This is referred to as the set ofinheritable ACL's associated with the item.

In the absence of any explicit specification of security in thecontainment hierarchy rooted at a folder item, the securityspecification of the folder applies to all the descendants of that itemin the containment hierarchy. Thus, every item for which an explicitsecurity policy specification is provided, defines a region ofidentically protected items, and the effective ACL's for all the itemsin the region is the set of inheritable ACL's for that item. This wouldcompletely define the regions in the case of a containment hierarchythat is a tree. If each region were to be associated with a number, thenit would be sufficient to merely include the region to which an itembelongs along with the item.

However, for containment hierarchies that are DAGs, the points in thecontainment hierarchy at which the effective security policy changes isdetermined by two kinds of items. The first is items for which anexplicit ACL has been specified. Typically these are the points in thecontainment hierarchy where in the administrator has explicitlyspecified an ACL. The second is items that have more than one parent,and the parents have different security policies associated with them.Typically, these are the items that are the confluence points ofsecurity policy specified for the volume and indicate the beginning of anew security policy.

With this definition, all the items in the data store fall into one oftwo categories—those that are the root of an identically protectedsecurity region and those that are not. The items that do not definesecurity regions belong to exactly one security region. As in the caseof trees, the effective security for an item can be specified byspecifying the region to which an item belongs along with the item. Thisleads to a straight forward model for administering the security of astorage platform data store based upon the various identically protectedregions in the store.

2. Detailed Description of the Security Model

This section provide details of how items are secured by describing howthe individual rights within a Security Descriptor and its containedACL's affect various operations.

a) Security Descriptor structure

Before describing the details of the security model, a basic discussionof security descriptors is helpful. A security descriptor contains thesecurity information associated with a securable object. A securitydescriptor consists of a SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR structure and itsassociated security information. A security descriptor can include thefollowing security information:

-   -   1. SID's for the owner and primary group of an object.    -   2. A DACL that specifies the access rights allowed or denied to        particular users or groups.    -   3. A SACL that specifies the types of access attempts that        generate audit records for the object.    -   4. A set of control bits that qualify the meaning of a security        descriptor or its individual members.

Preferably, applications are not able to directly manipulate thecontents of a security descriptor. There are functions for setting andretrieving the security information in an object's security descriptor.In addition, there are functions for creating and initializing asecurity descriptor for a new object.

A discretionary access control list (DACL) identifies the trustees thatare allowed or denied access to a securable object. When a process triesto access a securable object, the system checks the ACEs in the object'sDACL to determine whether to grant access to it. If the object does nothave a DACL, the system grants full access to everyone. If the object'sDACL has no ACEs, the system denies all attempts to access the objectbecause the DACL does not allow any access rights. The system checks theACEs in sequence until it finds one or more ACEs that allow all therequested access rights, or until any of the requested access rights aredenied.

A system access control list (SACL) enables administrators to logattempts to access a secured object. Each ACE specifies the types ofaccess attempts by a specified trustee that cause the system to generatea record in the security event log. An ACE in a SACL can generate auditrecords when an access attempt fails, when it succeeds, or both. A SACLmay also raise an alarm when an unauthorized user attempts to gainaccess to an object.

All types of ACEs contain the following access control information:

-   -   1. A security identifier (SID) that identifies the trustee to        which the ACE applies.    -   2. An access mask that specifies the access rights controlled by        the ACE.    -   3. A flag that indicates the type of ACE.    -   4. A set of bit flags that determine whether child containers or        objects can inherit the ACE from the primary object to which the        ACL is attached.

The following table lists the three ACE types supported by all securableobjects.

Type Description Access-denied Used in a DACL to deny access rights ACEto a trustee. Access-allowed Used in a DACL to allow access rights ACEto a trustee. System-audit Used in a SACL to generate an audit ACErecord when the trustee attempts to exercise the specified accessrights.

(1) Access Mask Format

All securable objects arrange their access rights using the access maskformat shown in the FIG. 26. In this format, the low-order 16 bits arefor object-specific access rights, the next 7 bits are for standardaccess rights, which apply to most types of objects, and the 4high-order bits are used to specify generic access rights that eachobject type can map to a set of standard and object-specific rights. TheACCESS_SYSTEM_SECURITY bit corresponds to the right to access theobject's SACL.

(2) Generic Access Rights

Generic rights are specified in the 4 high-order bits within the mask.Each type of securable object maps these bits to a set of its standardand object-specific access rights. For example, a file object maps theGENERIC_READ bit to the READ_CONTROL and SYNCHRONIZE standard accessrights and to the FILE_READ_DATA, FILE_READ_EA, and FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTESobject-specific access rights. Other types of objects map theGENERIC_READ bit to whatever set of access rights is appropriate forthat type of object.

Generic access rights can be used to specify the type of access neededwhen opening a handle to an object. This is typically simpler thanspecifying all the corresponding standard and specific rights. Thefollowing table shows the constants defined for the generic accessrights.

Constant Generic meaning GENERIC_ALL Read, write, and execute accessGENERIC_EXECUTE Execute access GENERIC_READ Read access GENERIC_WRITEWrite access

(3) Standard Access Rights

Each type of securable object has a set of access rights that correspondto operations specific to that type of object. In addition to theseobject-specific access rights, there is a set of standard access rightsthat correspond to operations common to most types of securable objects.The following table shows the constants defined for the standard accessrights.

Constant Meaning DELETE The right to delete the object. READ_CONTROL Theright to read the information in the object's security descriptor, notincluding the information in the SACL. SYNCHRONIZE The right to use theobject for synchronization. This enables a thread to wait until theobject is in the signaled state. Some object types do not support thisaccess right. WRITE_DAC The right to modify the DACL in the object'ssecurity descriptor. WRITE_OWNER The right to change the owner in theobject's security descriptor.

b) Item Specific Rights

In the access mask structure of FIG. 26, item specific rights are placedin the Object Specific Rights section (low order 16-bits). Because inthe present embodiment, the storage platform exposes two sets of APIs toadminister security—Win32 and the storage platform API, the file systemobject specific rights must be considered in order to motivate thedesign of the storage platform object specific rights.

(1) File and Directory Object Specific Rights

Consider the following table:

Directory Directory Description File File Description ValueFILE_LIST_(—) Right to list FILE_(—) Right to read 0x0001 DIRECTORY thecontents READ_(—) the correspond- of the DATA ing file data directoryFILE_ADD_(—) Right to FILE_(—) Right to write 0x0002 FILE create a fileWRITE_(—) data to the file in the DATA directory FILE_ADD_(—) Right toFILE_(—) Right to append 0x0004 SUB- create a APPEND_(—) data to thefile DIRECTORY subdirectory DATA FILE_READ_(—) Right to read FILE_(—)Right to read 0x0008 EA extended file READ_EA extended file attributesattributes FILE_(—) Right to FILE_(—) Right to write 0x0010 WRITE_(—)write WRITE_(—) extended file EA extended file EA attributes attributesFILE_(—) Right to FILE_(—) For a native code 0x0020 TRAVERSE traversethe EXECUTE file, the right to directory. execute the file. FILE_(—)Right to None None 0x0040 DELETE_(—) delete a CHILD directory and allthe files it contains FILE_READ_(—) Right to read FILE_(—) Right to readfile 0x0080 ATTRIBUTES directory READ_(—) attributes attributes ATTRI-BUTES FILE_(—) Right to FILE_(—) Right to write 0x0100 WRITE_(—) writeWRITE_(—) file attributes ATTRIBUTES directory ATTRI- attributes BUTES

Referring to the foregoing table, note that file systems make afundamental distinction between files and directories, which is why thefile and directory rights overlap on the same bits. File systems definevery granular rights, allowing applications to control behavior on theseobjects. For instance they allow applications to distinguish amongAttributes (FILE_READ/WRITE_ATTRIBUTES), Extended Attributes and theDATA stream associated with the file.

A goal of the security model of the storage platform of the presentinvention is to simplify the rights assignment model so applicationsoperating on data store items (Contacts, Emails, etc.) generally do nothave a need to distinguish between attributes, extended attributes anddata streams, for example. However, for files and folders, the granularWin32 rights are preserved and the semantics of access via the storageplatform are defined so that compatibility with Win32 applications canbe provided. This mapping is discussed with each of the item rightsspecified below.

The following item rights are specified with their associated allowableoperations. The equivalent Win32 rights backing each of these itemrights is also provided.

(2) WinFSItemRead

This right allows read access to all elements of the item, including theitems linked to the item via embedded relationships. It also allowsenumeration of items linked to this item via holding relationships(a.k.a., directory listing). This includes the names of items linked viareference relationships. This right maps to:

File: (FILE_READ_DATA | SYNCHRONIZE) Folder: (FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY |SYNCHRONIZE)

The semantics are that a security application could setWinFSItemReadData and specify the rights mask as a combination of thefile rights specified above.

(3) WinFSItemReadAttributes

This right allows read access to basic attributes of the Item, much asfile systems distinguish between basic file attributes and data streams.Preferably, these basic attributes are those that reside in the baseitem that all items derive from. This right maps to:

File: (FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES) Folder: (FILE_READ_ATTRIBUTES)

(4) WinFSItemWriteAttributes

This right allows write access to basic attributes of the Item, much asfile systems distinguish between basic file attributes and data streams.Preferably, these basic attributes reside in the base item that allitems derive from. This right maps to:

File: (FILE_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES) Folder: (FILE_WRITE_ATTRIBUTES)

(5) WinFSItemWrite

This right allows the ability to write to all elements of the item,including items linked via embedded relationships. This right alsoallows the ability to add or delete embedded relationships to otheritems. This right maps to:

File: (FILE_WRITE_DATA) Folder: (FILE_ADD_FILE)

In the storage platform data store, there is no distinction betweenitems and folders, since items can also have holding Relationships toother items in the data store. Hence, if you have FILE_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(or FILE_APPEND_DATA) rights, you can have an item be the source ofRelationships to other items.

(6) WinFSItemAddLink

This right allows the ability to add holding Relationships to items inthe store. It should be noted that since the security model for multipleholding Relationships changes the security on an item and the changescan bypasses WRITE_DAC if coming from a higher point in the hierarchy,WRITE_DAC is required on the destination item in order to be able tocreate a Relationship to it. This right maps to:

File: (FILE_APPEND_DATA) Folder: (FILE_ADD_SUBDIRECTORY)

(7) WinFSItemDeleteLink

This right allows the ability to delete a holding to an item even if theright to delete that item is not granted to the principal. This isconsistent with the file system model and helps with purge. This rightmaps to:

-   -   File:    -   (FILE_DELETE_CHILD)—Note that file systems do not have a file        equivalent to this right, but we have the notion of items having        holding Relationships to others and hence carry this right for        non-folders as well.    -   Folder:    -   (FILE_DELETE_CHILD)

(8) Rights to Delete an Item

An item gets deleted if the last holding Relationship to the itemdisappears. There is no explicit notion of deleting an item. There is apurge operation which deletes all holding Relationships to an item, butthat is a higher level facility and not a system primitive.

Any item specified using a path can be unlinked if either one of twoconditions is satisfied: (1) the parent item along that path grantswrite access to the subject, or (2) the standard rights on the itemitself grant DELETE. When the last Relationship is removed, the itemdisappears from the system. Any item specified using the ItemID can beunlinked if the standard rights on the item itself grant DELETE.

(9) Rights to Copy an Item

An item can be copied from a source to a destination folder if thesubject is granted WinFSItemRead on the item and WinFSItemWrite on thedestination folder.

(10) Rights to Move an Item

Move file in the file system requires just the DELETE right on thesource file and FILE_ADD_FILE on the destination directory, since itpreserves the ACL on the destination. However, a flag can be specifiedin the MoveFileEx call (MOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED) that lets an applicationspecify that it in the case of a cross-volume move, it can tolerateCopyFile semantics. There are 4 potential choices with respect to whathappens with the security descriptor upon a move:

-   -   1. Carry the entire ACL with the file—default intra-volume move        semantics.    -   2. Carry the entire ACL with the file and mark the ACL as        protected.    -   3. Carry just the explicit ACEs across and re-inherit on the        destination.    -   4. Carry nothing and re-inherit on the destination—default        inter-volume move semantics—same as copy file.

In the present security model, if an application specifies theMOVEFILE_COPY_ALLOWED flag, the fourth option is performed for both theinter- and intra-volume cases. If this flag is not specified, the secondoption is performed unless the destination is also in the same securityregion (i.e., same inheritance semantics). A storage platform level moveimplements the fourth choice as well and requires READ_DATA on thesource, much as a copy would.

(11) Rights to View the Security Policy on an Item

An item's security can be viewed if the item grants the standard rightREAD_CONTROL to the subject.

(12) Rights to Change the Security Policy on an Item

An item's security can be changed if the item grants the standard rightWRITE_DAC to the subject. However, since the data store providesimplicit inheritance, this has implications on how security can bechanged on hierarchies. The rule is that if the root of the hierarchygrants WRITE_DAC, then the security policy is changed on the entirehierarchy regardless of whether specific items within the hierarchy (orDAG) do not grant WRITE_DAC to the subject.

(13) Rights that Don't have a Direct Equivalent

In the present embodiment, FILE_EXECUTE (FILE_TRAVERSE for directories)do not have a direct equivalent in the storage platform. The model keepsthese for Win32 compatibility, but does not have any access decisionsmade for items based on these rights. As for FILE_READ/WRITE_EA, becausedata store items do not have notions of extended attributes, semanticsfor this bit are not provided. However, the bit remains for Win32compatibility.

3. Implementation

All the items that define identically protected regions have an entryassociated with them in a security table. The security table is definedas follows:

Item Item Explicit Path ACLs Region ACLs Identity Ordpath Item ACL

The Item Identity entry is the Item Identity of the root of anidentically protected security region. The Item Ordpath entry is theordpath associated with the root of the identically protected securityregion. The Explicit Item ACL entry is the explicit ACL defined for theroot of the identically protected security region. In some cases thiscan be NULL, e.g., when a new security region is defined because theitem has multiple parents belonging to different regions. The Path ACLsentry is the set of ACL's inherited by the item, and the Region ACLsentry is the set of ACL's defined for the identically protected securityregion associated with the item.

The computation of effective security for any item in a given storeleverages this table. In order to determine the security policyassociated with an item, the security region associated with the item isobtained and the ACL's associated with that region are retrieved.

As the security policy associated with an item is changed either bydirectly adding explicit ACL's or indirectly by adding holdingRelationships that result in the formation of new security regions, thesecurity table is kept up to date to ensure that the above algorithm fordetermining the effective security of an item is valid.

The various changes to the store and the accompanying algorithms tomaintain the security table are as follows:

a) Creating a New Item in a Container

When an item is newly created in a container, it inherits all the ACL'sassociated with the container. Since the newly created item has exactlyone parent it belongs to the same region as its parent. Thus there is noneed to create a new entry in the security table.

b) Adding an Explicit ACL to an Item

When an ACL is added to an item, it defines a new security region forall its descendants in the containment hierarchy that belong to the samesecurity region as the given item itself. For all the items that belongto other security regions but are descendants of the given item in thecontainment hierarchy, the security region remains unchanged but theeffective ACL associated with the region is changed to reflect theaddition of the new ACL.

The introduction of this new security region can trigger further regiondefinitions for all those items which have multiple holdingRelationships with ancestors that straddle the old security region andthe newly defined security region. For all such items a new securityregion needs to be defined and the procedure repeated.

FIGS. 27( a), (b), and (c) depict a new identically protected securityregion being carved out of an existing security region by introducing anew explicit ACL. This is indicated by the node marked 2. However, theintroduction of this new region results in an additional region 3 beingcreated because of an item having multiple holding Relationships.

The following sequence of updates to the security tables reflect thefactoring of the identically protected security regions.

c) Adding a Holding Relationship to an Item

When a holding Relationship is added to an item it gives rise to one ofthree possibilities. If the target of the holding Relationship, i.e.,the item under consideration is the root of a security region, theeffective ACL associated with the region is changed and no furthermodifications to the security table is required. If the security regionof the source of the new holding Relationship is identical to thesecurity region of the existing parents of the item no changes arerequired. However, if the item now has parents that belong to differentsecurity regions, then a new security region is formed with the givenitem as the root of the security region. This change is propagated toall the items in the containment hierarchy by modifying the securityregion associated with the item. All the items that belong to the samesecurity region as the item under consideration and its descendants inthe containment hierarchy need to be changed. Once the change is made,all the items that have multiple holding Relationships must be examinedto determine if further changes are required. Further changes may berequired if any of these items have parents of different securityregions.

d) Deleting a Holding Relationship from an Item

When a holding Relationship is deleted from an item it is possible tocollapse a security region with its parent region if certain conditionsare satisfied. More precisely this can be accomplished under thefollowing conditions: (1) if the removal of the holding Relationshipresults in an item that has one parent and no explicit ACL is specifiedfor that item; (2) if the removal of the holding Relationship results inan item whose parent's are all in the same security region and noexplicit ACL is defined for that item. Under these circumstances thesecurity region can be marked to be the same as the parent. This markingneeds to be applied to all the items whose security region correspondsto the region being collapsed.

e) Deleting an Explicit ACL from an Item

When an explicit ACL is deleted from an item, it is possible to collapsethe security region rooted at that item with that of its parents. Moreprecisely, this can be done if the removal of the explicit ACL resultsin an item whose parents in the containment hierarchy belong to the samesecurity region. Under these circumstances, the security region can bemarked to be the same as the parent and the change applied to all theitems whose security region corresponds to the region being collapsed.

f) Modifying an ACL Associated with an Item

In this scenario, no new additions to the security table are required.The effective ACL associated with the region is updated and the new ACLchange is propagated to the security regions that are affected by it.

F. Notifications and Change Tracking

According to another aspect of the present invention, the storageplatform provides a notifications capability that allows applications totrack data changes. This feature is primarily intended for applicationswhich maintain volatile state or execute business logic on data changeevents. Applications register for notifications on items, itemextensions and item relationships. Notifications are deliveredasynchronously after data changes have been committed. Applications mayfilter notifications by item, extension and relationship type as well astype of operation.

According to one embodiment, the storage platform API 322 provides twokinds of interfaces for notifications. First, applications register forsimple data change events triggered by changes to items, item extensionsand item relationships. Second, applications create “watcher” objects tomonitor sets of items, item extensions and relationships between items.The state of a watcher object can be saved and re-created after a systemfailure or after a system has gone off-line for an extended period oftime. A single notification may reflect multiple updates.

1. Storage Change Events

This section provide a few examples of how the notification interfacesprovided by the storage platform API 322 are used.

a) Events

Items, ItemExtensions and ItemRelationships expose data change eventswhich are used by applications to register for data changenotifications. The following code sample shows the definition of theItemModified and ItemRemoved event handlers on the base Item class.

// Events public event ItemModifiedEventHandler Item_ItemModified;public event ItemRemovedEventHandler Item_ItemRemoved;

All notifications carry sufficient data to retrieve the changed itemfrom the data store. The following code sample shows how to register forevents on an Item, ItemExtension, or ItemRelationship:

myItem.ItemModified += new ItemModifiedEventHandler(this.onItemUpdate);myItem.ItemRemoved += new ItemRemovedEventHandler(this.onItemDelete);

In the present embodiment, the storage platform guarantees thatapplications will be notified if the respective item has been modifiedor deleted since last delivering a notification or in case of a newregistration since last fetched from the data store.

b) Watchers

In the present embodiment, the storage platform defines watcher classesfor monitoring objects associated with a (1) folder or folder hierarchy,(2) an item context or (3) a specific item. For each of the threecategories, the storage platform provides specific watcher classes whichmonitor associated items, item extensions or item relationships, e.g.the storage platform provides the respective FolderItemWatcher,FolderRelationshipWatcher and FolderExtensionWatcher classes.

When creating a watcher, an application may request notifications forpre-existing items, i.e. items, extensions or relationships. This optionis mostly for applications which maintain a private item cache. If notrequested, applications receive notifications for all updates whichoccur after the watcher object has been created.

Together with delivering notifications, the storage platform supplies a“WatcherState” object. The WatcherState can be serialized and saved ondisk. The watcher state can subsequently be used to re-create therespective watcher after a failure or when reconnecting after goingoff-line. The newly re-created watcher will re-generate un-acknowledgednotifications. Applications indicate delivery of a notification bycalling the “Exclude” method on the respective watcher state supplying areference to a notification.

The storage platform delivers separate copies of the watcher state toeach event handler. Watcher states received on subsequent invocations ofthe same event handler presume delivery of all previously receivednotifications.

By way of example, the following code sample shows the definition of aFolderItemWatcher.

public class FolderItemWatcher : Watcher { // Constructors publicFolderItemWatcher_Constructor(Folder folder); publicFolderItemWatcher_Constructor1(Folder folder, Type itemType); publicFolderItemWatcher_Constructor2(ItemContext context, ItemId folderId);public FolderItemWatcher_Constructor3(Folder folder, Type itemType,FolderItemWatcherOptions options); publicFolderItemWatcher_Constructor4(ItemContext context, ItemId folderId,Type itemType); public FolderItemWatcher_Constructor5(ItemContextcontext, ItemId folderId, Type itemType, FolderItemWatcherOptionsoptions); // Properties public ItemId FolderItemWatcher FolderId {get;}public Type FolderItemWatcher ItemType {get;} publicFolderItemWatcherOptions FolderItemWatcher_Options {get;} // Eventspublic event ItemChangedEventHandler FolderItemWatcher_ItemChanged; }

The following code sample shows how to create a folder watcher objectfor monitoring the contents of a folder. The watcher generatesnotifications, i.e. events, when new music items are added or existingmusic items are updated or deleted. Folder watchers either monitor aparticular folder or all folders within a folder hierarchy.

myFolderItemWatcher = new FolderItemWatcher(myFolder, typeof(Music));myFolderItemWatcher.ItemChanged += newItemChangedEventHandler(this.onItemChanged);

2. Change Tracking and Notification Generation Mechanism

The storage platform provides a simple, yet efficient mechanism to trackdata changes and generate notifications. A client retrievesnotifications on the same connection used to retrieve data. This greatlysimplifies security checks, removes latencies and constraints onpossible network configurations. Notifications are retrieved by issuingselect statements. To prevent polling, clients may use a “waitfor”feature provided by the database engine 314. FIG. 13 shows the basicstorage platform notification concept. This waitfor query may beexecuted synchronously, in which case the calling thread is blockeduntil results are available, or asynchronously, in which case the threadis not blocked and results are returned on a separate thread, whenavailable.

A combination of “waitfor” and “select” is attractive for monitoringdata changes which fit into a particular data range as changes can bemonitored by setting a notification lock on the respective data range.This holds for many common storage platform scenarios. Changes toindividual items can be efficiently monitored by setting notificationlocks on the respective data range. Changes to folders and folder treescan be monitored by setting notification locks on path ranges. Changesto types and its subtypes can be monitored by setting notification lockson type ranges.

In general, there are three distinct phases associated with processingnotifications: (1) data change or even detection, (2) subscriptionmatching and (3) notification delivery. Excluding synchronousnotification delivery, i.e. notification delivery as part of thetransaction performing the data change, the storage platform canimplement two forms of notification delivery:

-   -   1) Immediate Event Detection: Event detection and subscription        matching is performed as part of the update transaction.        Notifications are inserted into a table monitored by the        subscriber; and    -   2) Deferred Event Detection: Event detection and subscription        matching is performed after the update transaction has been        committed. Subsequently the actual subscriber or an intermediary        detects events and generates notifications.

Immediate event detection requires additional code to be executed aspart of update operations. This allows the capture of all events ofinterest including events indicating a relative state change.

Deferred event detection removes the need to add additional code toupdate operations. Event detection is done by the ultimate subscriber.Deferred event detection naturally batches event detection and eventdelivery and fits well with the query execution infrastructure of thedatabase engine 314 (e.g., SQL Server).

Deferred event detection relies on a log or trace left by updateoperations. The storage platform maintains a set of logical timestampstogether with tombstones for deleted data items. When scanning the datastore for changes, clients supply a timestamp which defines a lowwatermark for detecting changes and a set of timestamps to preventduplicate notifications. Applications might receive notifications forall changes which happened after the time indicated by the lowwatermark.

Sophisticated applications with access to core views can furtheroptimize and reduce the number of SQL statements necessary to monitor apotentially large set of items by creating private parameter andduplicate filter tables. Applications with special needs such as thosehaving to support rich views can use the available change trackingframework to monitor data changes and refresh their private snapshots.

Preferably, therefore, in one embodiment, the storage platformimplements a deferred event detection approach, as described more fullybelow.

a) Change Tracking

All items, extensions and item relationship definitions carry a uniqueidentifier. Change tracking maintains a set of logical timestamps torecord creation, update and deletion times for all data items. Tombstoneentries are used to represent deleted data items.

Applications use that information to efficiently monitor whether aparticular item, item extension or item relationship has been newlyadded, updated or deleted since the application last accessed the datastore. The following example illustrates this mechanism.

create table [item-extension-relationship-table-template] ( identifieruniqueidentifier not null default newid( ) created bigint, not null, --@ @ dbts when created updated bigint, not null, -- @ @ dbts when lastupdated ..... )

All deleted items, item extensions and relationships are recorded in acorresponding tombstone table. A template is shown below.

create table [item-extension-relationship-tombstone table-template] (identifier uniqueidentifier not null, deleted bigint not null, -- @ @dbts when deleted, created bigint not null, -- @ @ dbts when createdupated bigint not null, -- @ @ dbts when last updated ..... )

For efficiency reasons, the storage platform maintains a set of globaltables for items, item extensions, relationships and pathnames. Thoseglobal lookup tables can be used by applications to efficiently monitordata ranges and retrieve associated timestamp and type information.

b) Timestamp Management

Logical timestamps are “local” to a database store, i.e. storageplatform volume. Timestamps are monotonically increasing 64-bit values.Retaining a single timestamp is often sufficient to detect whether adata change occurred after last connecting to a storage platform volume.However, in most realistic scenarios, a few more timestamps need to bekept to check for duplicates. The reasons are explained below.

Relational database tables are logical abstractions built on top of aset of physical data structures, i.e. B-Tree's, heaps etc. Assigning atimestamp to a newly created or updated record is not an atomic action.Inserting that record into the underlying data structures may happen atdifferent times, thus applications may see records out of order.

FIG. 14 shows two transactions both inserting a new record into the sameB-Tree. Since transaction T3 inserts its record before transaction T2'sinsert is scheduled, an application scanning the B-Tree may see therecords inserted by transaction T3 before those inserted by T2. Thus,the reader may incorrectly assume that he has seen all records createdup to time “10”. To resolve this issue, the database engine 314 providesa function which returns a low water mark up to which all updates havecommitted and been inserted into the respective underlying datastructures. In the example above, the low watermark returned would be“5,” assuming that the reader started before transaction T2 had beencommitted. The low watermark provided by the database engine 314 allowsapplications to efficiently determine which items to ignore whenscanning the database or a data range for data changes. In general, ACIDtransactions are assumed to last a very short time thus, low watermarksare expected to be very close to the most recently dispensed timestamp.In the presence of long lasting transactions, applications might have tokeep individual timestamps to detect and discard duplicates.

c) Data Change Detection—Event Detection

When querying the data store, applications obtain a low watermark.Subsequently, applications use that watermark to scan the data store forentries whose creation, update or delete timestamp is greater than thelow watermark returned. FIG. 15 illustrates this process.

To prevent duplicate notifications, applications remember timestampswhich are greater than the low watermark returned and use those tofilter out duplicates. Applications create session local temporarytables to efficiently handle a large set of duplicate timestamps. Beforeissuing a select statement, an application inserts all duplicatetimestamps previously returned and deletes those which are older thanthe last low watermark returned, as illustrated below.

delete from $duplicates where ts < @ oldLowWaterMark; insert into$duplicates(ts) values(...),..,( ..); waitfor( select *,getLowWaterMark( ) as newLowWaterMark from [global!items] whereupdated >= @oldLowWaterMark and updated not in (select * from$duplicates))

G. Synchronization

According to another aspect of the present invention, the storageplatform provides a synchronization service 330 that (i) allows multipleinstances of the storage platform (each with its own data store 302) tosynchronize parts of their content according to a flexible set of rules,and (ii) provides an infrastructure for third parties to synchronize thedata store of the storage platform of the present invention with otherdata sources that implement proprietary protocols.

Storage platform-to-storage platform synchronization occurs among agroup of participating replicas. For example, with reference to FIG. 3,it may be desirable to provide synchronization between the data store302 of the storage platform 300 with another remote data store 338 underthe control of another instance of the storage platform, perhaps runningon a different computer system. The total membership of this group isnot necessarily known to any given replica at any given time.

Different replicas can make the changes independently (i.e.concurrently). The process of synchronization is defined as making everyreplica aware of the changes made by other replicas. Thissynchronization capability is inherently multi-master.

The synchronization capability of the present invention allows replicasto:

-   -   determine which changes another replica is aware of;    -   request information about changes that this replica is not aware        of;    -   convey information about changes that the other replica is not        aware of;    -   determine when two changes are in conflict with each other;    -   apply changes locally;    -   convey conflict resolutions to other replicas to ensure        convergence; and    -   resolve the conflicts based on specified policies for conflict        resolutions.

1. Storage Platform-to-Storage Platform Synchronization

The primary application of the synchronization service 330 of thestorage platform of the present invention is to synchronize multipleinstances of the storage platform (each with its own data store). Thesynchronization service operates at the level of the storage platformschemas (rather than the underlying tables of the database engine 314).Thus, for example, “Scopes” are used to define synchronization sets asdiscussed below.

The synchronization service operates on the principle of “net changes”.Rather than recording and sending individual operations (such as withtransactional replication), the synchronization service sends theend-result of those operations, thus often consolidating the results ofmultiple operations into a single resulting change.

The synchronization service does not in general respect transactionboundaries. In other words, if two changes are made to a storageplatform data store in a single transaction, there is no guarantee thatthese changes are applied at all other replicas atomically—one may showup without the other. The exception to this principle is that if twochanges are made to the same Item in the same transaction, then thesechanges are guaranteed to be sent and applied to other replicasatomically. Thus, Items are the consistency units of the synchronizationservice.

a) Synchronization (Sync) Controlling Applications

Any application can connect to the synchronization service and initiatea sync operation. Such an application provides all of the parametersneeded to perform synchronization (see sync profile below). Suchapplications are referred to herein as Sync Controlling Applications(SCAs).

When synchronizing two storage platform instances, sync is initiated onone side by an SCA. That SCA informs the local synchronization serviceto synchronize with the remote partner. On the other side, thesynchronization service is awoken by the messages sent by thesynchronization service from the originating machine. It responds basedon the persistent configuration information (see mappings below) presenton the destination machine. The synchronization service can be run onschedule or in response to events. In these cases, the synchronizationservice implementing the schedule becomes the SCA.

To enable synchronization, two steps need to be taken. First, the schemadesigner must annotate the storage platform schema with appropriate syncsemantics (designating Change Units as described below). Second,synchronization must be properly configured on all of the machineshaving an instance of the storage platform that is to participate in thesynchronization (as described below).

b) Schema Annotation

A fundamental concept of the synchronization service is that of a ChangeUnit. A Change Unit is a smallest piece of schema that is individuallytracked by the storage platform. For every Change Unit, thesynchronization service may be able to determine whether it changed ordid not change since the last sync.

Designating Change Units in the schema serves several purposes. First,it determines how chatty the synchronization service is on the wire.When a change is made inside a Change Unit, the entire Change Unit issent to the other replicas, since the synchronization service does notknow which part of the Change Unit was changed. Second, it determinesthe granularity of conflict detection. When two concurrent changes(these terms are defined in detail in subsequent sections) are made tothe same change unit, the synchronization service raises a conflict; onthe other hand, if concurrent changes are made to different changeunits, then no conflict is raised and the changes are automaticallymerged. Third, it strongly affects the amount of meta-data kept by thesystem. Much of the synchronization service meta-data is kept per-ChangeUnit; thus, making Change Units smaller increases the overhead of sync.

Defining Change Units requires finding the right trade-offs. For thatreason, the synchronization service allows schema designers toparticipate in the process.

In one embodiment, the synchronization service does not support ChangeUnits that are larger than an element. However, it does support theability for schema designers to specify smaller change units than anelement—namely, grouping multiple attributes of an element into aseparate Change Unit. In that embodiment, this is accomplished using thefollowing syntax:

<Type Name=″Appointment″ MajorVersion=″1″ MinorVersion=″0″ExtendsType=″Base.Item″ Extends Version=″1″> <Field Name=″MeetingStatus“Type=″the storage platformTypes.uniqueidentifier Nullable=″False″/><Field Name=″OrganizerName“ Type=″the storageplatformTypes.nvarchar(512)″ Nullable=″False″/> <FieldName=″OrganizerEmail“ Type=″the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(512)″TypeMajorVersion=″1“ MultiValued=″True″/> ... <ChangeUnitName=”CU_Status”> <Field Name=”MeetingStatus”/> </ChangeUnit><ChangeUnit Name=”CU_Organizer”/> <Field Name=”OrganizerName” /> <FieldName=”OrganizerEmail” /> </ChangeUnit> ... </Type>

c) Sync Configuration

A group of storage platform partners that wish to keep certain parts oftheir data in sync are referred to as a sync community. While themembers of the community want to stay in sync, they do not necessarilyrepresent the data in exactly the same way; in other words, syncpartners may transform the data they are synchronizing.

In a peer-to-peer scenario, it is impractical for peers to maintaintransformation mappings for all of their partners. Instead, thesynchronization service takes the approach of defining “CommunityFolders”. A community folder is an abstraction that represents ahypothetical “shared folder” that all community members aresynchronizing with.

This notion is best illustrated by an example. If Joe wants to keep MyDocuments folders of his several computers in sync, Joe defines acommunity folder called, say, JoesDocuments. Then, on every computer,Joe configures a mapping between the hypothetical JoesDocuments folderand the local My Documents folder. From this point on, when Joe'scomputers synchronize with each other, they talk in terms of documentsin JoesDocuments, rather than their local items. This way, all Joe'scomputers understand each other without having to know who the othersare—the Community Folder becomes the lingua franca of the synccommunity.

Configuring the synchronization service consists of three steps: (1)defining mappings between local folders and community folders; (2)defining sync profiles that determine what gets synchronized (e.g. whomto sync with and which subsets should be sent and which received); and(3) defining the schedules on which different sync profiles should run,or running them manually.

(1) Community Folder—Mappings

Community Folder mappings are stored as XML configuration files onindividual machines. Each mapping has the following schema:

-   /mappings/communityFolder    -   This element names the community folder that this mapping is        for. The name follows the syntax rules of Folders.-   /mappings/localFolder    -   This element names the local folder that the mapping transforms        into. The name follows the syntax rules of Folders. The folder        must already exist for the mapping to be valid. The items within        this folder are considered for synchronization per this mapping.-   /mappings/transformations    -   This element defines how to transform items from the community        folder to the local folder and back. If absent or empty, no        transformations are performed. In particular, this means that no        IDs are mapped. This configuration is primarily useful for        creating a cache of a Folder.-   /mappings/transformations/mapIDs    -   This element requests that newly generated local IDs be assigned        to all of the items mapped from the community folder, rather        than reusing community IDs. The Sync Runtime will maintain ID        mappings to convert items back and forth.-   /mappings/transformations/localRoot    -   This element requests that all root items in the community        folder be made children of the specified root.-   /mappings/runAs    -   This element controls under whose authority requests against        this mapping are processed. If absent, sender is assumed.-   /mappings/runAs/sender    -   The presence of this element indicates that the sender of        messages to this mapping must be impersonated, and requests        processed under his credentials.

(2) Profiles

A Sync Profile is a total set of parameters needed to kick offsynchronization. It is supplied by an SCA to the Sync Runtime toinitiate sync. Sync profiles for storage platform-to-storage platformsynchronization contain the following information:

-   -   Local Folder, to serve as the source and destination for        changes;    -   Remote Folder name to synchronize with—this Folder must be        published from the remote partner by way of a mapping as defined        above;    -   Direction—the synchronization service supports send-only,        receive-only, and send-receive sync;    -   Local Filter—selects what local information to send to the        remote partner. Expressed as a the storage platform query over        the local folder;    -   Remote Filter—selects what remote information to retrieve from        the remote partner—expressed as a storage platform query over        the community folder;    -   Transformations—defines how to transform items to and from the        local format;    -   Local security—specifies whether the changes retrieved from the        remote endpoint are to be applied under the permissions of the        remote endpoint (impersonated) or the user initiating the sync        locally; and    -   Conflict resolution policy—specifies whether conflicts should be        rejected, logged, or automatically resolved—in the latter case,        it specifies which conflict resolver to use, as well as the        configuration parameters for it.

The synchronization service provides a runtime CLR class that allowssimple building of Sync Profiles. Profiles can also be serialized to andfrom XML files for easy storage (often alongside schedules). However,there is no standard place in the storage platform where all theprofiles are stored; SCAs are welcome to construct a profile on the spotwithout ever persisting it. Note that there is no need to have a localmapping to initiate sync. All sync information can be specified in theprofile. The mapping is, however, required in order to respond to syncrequests initiated by the remote side.

(3) Schedules

In one embodiment, the synchronization service does not provide its ownscheduling infrastructure. Instead, it relies on another component toperform this task—the Windows Scheduler available with the MicrosoftWindows operating system. The synchronization service includes acommand-line utility that acts as an SCA and triggers synchronizationbased on a sync profile saved in an XML file. This utility makes it veryeasy to configure the Windows Scheduler to run synchronization either onschedule, or in response to events such as user logon or logoff.

d) Conflict Handling

Conflict handling in the synchronization service is divided into threestages: (1) conflict detection, which occurs at change applicationtime—this step determines if a change can be safely applied; (2)automatic conflict resolution and logging—during this step (that takesplace immediately after the conflict is detected) automatic conflictresolvers are consulted to see if the conflict can be resolved—if not,the conflict can be optionally logged; and (3) conflict inspection andresolution—this step takes place if some conflicts have been logged, andoccurs outside of the context of the sync session—at this time, loggedconflicts can be resolved and removed from the log.

(1) Conflict Detection

In the present embodiment, the synchronization service detects two typesof conflicts: knowledge-based and constraint-based.

(a) Knowledge-Based conflicts

A knowledge-based conflict occurs when two replicas make independentchanges to the same Change Unit. Two changes are called independent ifthey are made without knowledge of each other—in other words, theversion of the first is not covered by the knowledge of the second andvice versa. The synchronization service automatically detects all suchconflicts based on the replicas' knowledge as described above.

It is sometimes helpful to think of conflicts as forks in the versionhistory of a change unit. If no conflicts occur in the life of a changeunit, its version history is a simple chain—each change occurring afterthe previous one. In the case of a knowledge-based conflict, two changesoccur in parallel, causing the chain to split and become a version tree.

(b) Constraint-Based Conflicts

There are cases where independent changes violate an integrityconstraint when applied together. For instance, two replicas creating afile with the same name in the same directory could cause such aconflict to occur.

A constraint-based conflict involves two independent changes (just likea knowledge-based one), but they do not affect the same change unit.Rather, they affect different change units but with a constraintexisting between them.

The synchronization service detects constraint violations at changeapplication time and raises constraint-based conflicts automatically.Resolving constraint-based conflicts usually requires custom code thatmodifies the changes in such as way as to not violate the constraint;The synchronization service does not provide a general-purpose mechanismfor doing so.

(2) Conflict Processing

When a conflict is detected, the synchronization service can take one ofthree actions (selected by the sync initiator in the Sync Profile): (1)reject the change, returning it back to sender; (2) log a conflict intoa conflict log; or (3) resolve the conflict automatically.

If the change is rejected, the synchronization service acts as if thechange did not arrive at the replica. A negative acknowledgement is sentback to the originator. This resolution policy is primarily useful onhead-less replicas (such as file servers) where logging conflicts is notfeasible. Instead, such replicas force the others to deal with theconflicts by rejecting them.

Sync initiators configure conflict resolution in their Sync Profiles.The synchronization service supports combining multiple conflictresolvers in a single profile in the following ways—first, by specifyinga list of conflict resolvers to be tried one after another, until one ofthem succeeds; and second, by associating conflict resolvers withconflict types, e.g. directing update-update knowledge-based conflictsto one resolver, but all the other conflicts to the log.

(a) Automatic Conflict Resolution

The synchronization service provides a number of default conflictresolvers. This list includes:

-   -   local-wins: disregard incoming changes if in conflict with        locally stored data;    -   remote-wins: disregard local data if in conflict with incoming        changes;    -   last-writer-wins: pick either local-wins or remote-wins per        change unit based on the timestamp of the change (note that the        synchronization service in general does not rely on clock        values; this conflict resolver is the sole exception to that        rule);    -   Deterministic: pick a winner in a manner that is guaranteed to        be the same on all replicas, but not otherwise meaningful—one        embodiment of the synchronization services uses lexicographic        comparisons of partner IDs to implement this feature.

In addition, ISVs can implement and install their own conflictresolvers. Custom conflict resolvers may accept configurationparameters; such parameters must be specified by the SCA in the ConflictResolution section of the Sync Profile.

When a conflict resolver handles a conflict, it returns the list ofoperations that need to be performed (in lieu of the conflicting change)back to the runtime. The synchronization service then applies theseoperations, having properly adjusted remote knowledge to include whatthe conflict handler has considered.

It is possible that another conflict is detected while applying theresolution. In such a case, the new conflict must be resolved before theoriginal processing resumes.

When thinking of conflicts as branches in the version history of anitem, conflict resolutions can be viewed as joins—combining two branchesto form a single point. Thus, conflict resolutions turn versionhistories into DAGs.

(b) Conflict Logging

A very particular kind of a conflict resolver is the Conflict Logger.The synchronization service logs conflicts as Items of typeConflictRecord. These records are related back to the items that are inconflict (unless the items themselves have been deleted). Each conflictrecord contains: the incoming change that caused the conflict; the typeof the conflict: update-update, update-delete, delete-update,insert-insert, or constraint; and the version of the incoming change andthe knowledge of the replica sending it. Logged conflicts are availablefor inspection and resolution as described below.

(c) Conflict Inspection and Resolution

The synchronization service provides an API for applications to examinethe conflict log and to suggest resolutions of the conflicts in it. TheAPI allows application to enumerate all conflicts, or conflicts relatedto a given Item. It also allows such applications to resolve loggedconflicts in one of three ways: (1) remote wins—accepting the loggedchange and overwriting the conflicting local change; (2) localwins—ignoring conflicting parts of the logged change; and (3) suggestnew change—where the application proposes a merge that, in its opinion,resolves the conflict. Once conflicts are resolved by an application,the synchronization service removes them from the log.

(d) Convergence of Replicas and Propagation of Conflict Resolutions

In complex synchronization scenarios, the same conflict can be detectedat multiple replicas. If this occurs, several things can happen: (1) theconflict can be resolved on one replica, and the resolution be sent tothe other; (2) the conflict is resolved on both replicas automatically;or (3) the conflict is resolved on both replicas manually (through theconflict inspection API).

To ensure convergence, the synchronization service forwards conflictresolutions to other replicas. When a change that resolves a conflictarrives at a replica, the synchronization service automatically findsany conflict records in the log that are resolved by this update andeliminates them. In this sense, a conflict resolution at one replica isbinding on all the other replicas.

If different winners are chosen by different replicas for the sameconflict, the synchronization service applies the principle of bindingconflict resolution and picks one of the two resolutions to win over theother automatically. The winner is picked in a deterministic fashionthat is guaranteed to produce the same results at all times (oneembodiment uses replica ID lexicographic comparisons).

If different “new changes” are suggested by different replicas for thesame conflict, the synchronization service treats this new conflict as aspecial conflict and uses the Conflict Logger to prevent it frompropagating to other replicas. Such situation commonly arises withmanual conflict resolution.

2. Synchronizing to Non-Storage Platform Data Stores

According to another aspect of the storage platform of the presentinvention, the storage platform provides an architecture for ISVs toimplement Sync Adapters that allow the storage platform to synchronizeto legacy systems such as Microsoft Exchange, AD, Hotmail, etc. SyncAdapters benefit from the many Sync Service provided by thesynchronization service, as described below.

Despite the name, Sync Adapters do not need to be implemented asplug-ins into some storage platform architecture. If desired, a “syncadapter” can simply be any application that utilizes the synchronizationservice runtime interfaces to obtain services such as change enumerationand application.

In order to make it simpler for others to configure and runsynchronization to a given backend, Sync Adapter writers are encouragedto expose the standard Sync Adapter interface, which runs sync given theSync Profile as described above. The profile provides configurationinformation to the adapter, some of which adapters pass to the SyncRuntime to control runtime services (e.g. the Folder to synchronize).

a) Sync Services

The synchronization service provides a number of sync services toadapter writers. For the rest of this section, it is convenient to referto the machine on which the storage platform is doing synchronization asthe “client” and the non-storage platform backend that the adapter istalking to as the “server”.

(1) Change Enumeration

Based on the change-tracking data maintained by the synchronizationservice, Change Enumeration allows sync adapters to easily enumerate thechanges that have occurred to a data store Folder since the last timesynchronization with this partner was attempted.

Changes are enumerated based on the concept of an “anchor”—an opaquestructure that represents information about the last synchronization.The anchor takes the form of the storage platform Knowledge, asdescribed in the proceeding sections. Sync adapters utilizing changeenumeration services fall into two broad categories: those using “storedanchors” vs. those using “supplied anchors”.

The distinction is based on where the information about the last sync isstored—on the client, or on the server. It is often easier for adaptersto store this information on the client—the backend is often not capableof conveniently storing this information. On the other hand, if multipleclients synchronize to the same backend, storing this information on theclient is inefficient and in some cases incorrect—it makes one clientunaware of the changes that the other client has already pushed up tothe server. If an adapter wants to use a server-stored anchor, theadapter needs to supply it back to the storage platform at the time ofchange enumeration.

In order for the storage platform to maintain the anchor (either forlocal or remote storage), the storage platform needs to be made aware ofthe changes that were successfully applied at the server. These and onlythese changes can be included in the anchor. During change enumeration,Sync Adapters use an Acknowledgement interface to report which changeswere successfully applied. At the end of synchronization, adapters usingsupplied anchors must read the new anchor (which incorporates all of thesuccessfully-applied changes) and send it to their backend.

Often, Adapters need to store adapter-specific data along with the itemsthey insert into the storage platform data store. Common examples ofsuch data are remote IDs and remote versions (timestamps). Thesynchronization service provides a mechanism for storing this data, andChange Enumeration provides a mechanism to receive this extra data alongwith the changes being returned. This eliminates the need for adaptersto re-query the database in most cases.

(2) Change Application

Change Application allows Sync Adapters to apply changes received fromtheir backend to the local storage platform. Adapters are expected totransform the changes to the storage platform schema.

The primary function of change application is to automatically detectconflicts. As in the case of Storage Platform-to-Storage Platform sync,a conflict is defined as two overlapping changes being made withoutknowledge of each other. When adapters use Change Application, they mustspecify the anchor with respect to which conflict detection isperformed. Change Application raises a conflict if an overlapping localchange that is not covered by the adapter's knowledge is detected.Similar to Change Enumeration, adapters may use either stored orsupplied anchors. Change Application supports efficient storage ofadapter-specific meta-data. Such data may be attached by the adapter tothe changes being applied, and might be stored by the synchronizationservice. The data might be returned on next change enumeration.

(3) Conflict Resolution

The Conflict Resolution mechanisms described above (logging andautomatic resolution options) are available to sync adapters as well.Sync adapters may specify the policy for conflict resolution whenapplying changes. If specified, conflicts may be passed on to thespecified conflict handler and resolved (if possible). Conflicts canalso be logged. It is possible that the adapter may detect a conflictwhen attempting to apply a local change to the backend. In such a case,the adapter may still pass the conflict on to the Sync Runtime to beresolved according to policy. In addition, Sync Adapters may requestthat any conflicts detected by the synchronization service be sent backto them for processing. This is particularly convenient in the casewhere the backend is capable of storing or resolving conflicts.

b) Adapter Implementation

While some “adapters” are simply applications utilizing runtimeinterfaces, adapters are encouraged to implement the standard adapterinterfaces. These interfaces allow Sync Controlling Applications to:request that the adapter perform synchronization according to a givenSync Profile; cancel on-going synchronization; and receive progressreporting (percentage complete) on an ongoing sync.

3. Security

The synchronization service strives to introduce as little as possibleinto the security model implemented by the storage platform. Rather thandefining new rights for synchronization, existing rights are used.Specifically,

-   -   anyone who can read a data store Item can enumerate changes to        that item;    -   anyone who can write to a data store Item can apply changes to        that item; and    -   anyone who can extend a data store Item can associate sync        meta-data with that item.

The synchronization service does not maintain secure authorshipinformation. When a change is made at replica A by user U and forwardedto replica B, the fact that the change was originally made at A (or byU) is lost. If B forwards this change to replica C, this is done underB's authority, not that of A. This leads to the following limitation: ifa replica is not trusted to make its own changes to an item, it cannotforward changes made by others.

When the synchronization service is initiated, it is done by a SyncControlling Application. The synchronization service impersonates theidentity of the SCA and performs all operations (both locally andremotely) under that identity. To illustrate, observe that user U cannotcause the local synchronization service to retrieve changes from aremote storage platform for items that user U does not have read access.

4. Manageability

Monitoring a distributed community of replicas is a complex problem. Thesynchronization service may use a “sweep” algorithm to collect anddistribute information about the status of the replicas. The propertiesof the sweep algorithm ensure that information about all configuredreplicas is eventually collected and that failing (non-responsive)replicas are detected.

This community-wide monitoring information is made available at everyreplica. Monitoring tools can be run at an arbitrarily-chosen replica toexamine this monitoring information and make administrative decisions.Any configuration changes must be made directly at the affectedreplicas.

H. Traditional File System Interoperability

As mentioned above, the storage platform of the present invention is, inat least some embodiments, intended to be embodied as an integral partof the hardware/software interface system of a computer system. Forexample, the storage platform of the present invention may be embodiedas an integral part of an operating system, such as the MicrosoftWindows family of operating systems. In that capacity, the storageplatform API becomes a part of the operating system APIs through whichapplication programs interact with the operating system. Thus, thestorage platform becomes the means through which application programsstore information on the operating system, and the Item based data modelof the storage platform therefore replaces the traditional files systemof such an operating system. For example, as embodied in the MicrosoftWindows family of operating systems, the storage platform might replacethe NTFS file system implemented in that operating system. Presently,application programs access the services of the NTFS file system throughthe Win32 APIs exposed by the Windows family of operating systems.

Recognizing, however, that completely replacing the NTFS file systemwith the storage platform of the present invention would requirerecoding of existing Win32-based application programs and that suchrecoding may be undesirable, it would be beneficial for the storageplatform of the present invention to provide some interoperability withexisting file systems, such as NTFS. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, therefore, the storage platform enables application programswhich rely on the Win32 programming model to access the contents of boththe data store of the storage platform as well as the traditional NTFSfile system. To this end, the storage platform uses a naming conventionthat is a superset of the Win32 naming conventions to facilitate easyinteroperability. Further, the storage platform supports accessing filesand directories stored in a storage platform volume through the Win32API.

1. Model for Interoperability

According to this aspect of the present invention, and in accordancewith the exemplay embodiment discussed above, the storage platformimplements one namespace in which non-file and file items can beorganized. With this model, the following advantages are achieved:

-   -   1. Folders in the data store can contain both file and non-file        items, thus presenting a single namespace for file and        schematized data. Moreover, it also provides a uniform security,        sharing and administration model for all user data.    -   2. Since file and non-file items are both accessible using the        storage platform APIs and no special rules are imposed for files        in this approach, it presents a cleaner programming model for        application developers to work against.    -   3. All namespace operations pass through the storage platform        and hence are handled synchronously. It is important to note        that deep property promotion (driven off of file contents) still        happens asynchronously, but the synchronous operations provide a        much more predictable environment for users and applications.

As a consequence of this model, in the present embodiment, searchcapabilities may not be provided over data sources that are not migratedinto the storage platform data store. This includes removable media,remote servers and files on the local disk. A Sync Adapter is providedwhich manifests proxy items (shortcuts+promoted metadata) in the storageplatform for items residing in foreign file systems. Proxy items do notattempt to mimic files either in terms of the namespace hierarchy of thedata source or in terms of security.

The symmetry achieved on the namespace and programming model betweenfile and non-file content provides a better path for applications tomigrate content from file systems to more structured items in thestorage platform data store over time. By providing a native file itemtype in the storage platform data store, application programs cantransition file data into the storage platform while still being able tomanipulate this data via Win32. Eventually, application programs mightmigrate to the storage platform API completely and structure their datain terms of storage platform Items rather than files.

2. Data Store Features

In order to provide the desired level of interoperability, in oneembodiment, the following features of the storage platform data storeare implemented.

a) Not a Volume

The storage platform data store is not exposed as a separate file systemvolume. The storage platform leverages FILESTREAMs directly hosted onNTFS. Thus, there is no change to the on-disk format, thereby obviatingany need to expose the storage platform as a new file system at thevolume level.

Instead, a data store (namespace) is constructed corresponding to anNTFS volume. The database and FILESTREAMs backing this portion of thenamespace is located on the NTFS volume with which the storage platformdata store is associated. A data store corresponding to the systemvolume is also provided.

b) Store Structure

The structure of the store is best illustrated with an example.Consider, as an example, the directory tree on the system volume of amachine named HomeMachine, as illustrated in FIG. 16. In accordance withthe file system interoperability feature of the present invention,corresponding to the c:\ drive, there is a storage platform data storeexposed to the Win32 APIs via a UNC share, called, for example,“WinFSOnC.” This makes the associated data store accessible via thefollowing UNC name: \\HomeMachine\WinFSOnC.

In this embodiment, files and/or folders need to be migrated from NTFSto the storage platform explicitly. So, if a user desires to move the MyDocuments folder into the storage platform data store in order to availhis or herself of all the extra search/categorization features offeredby the storage platform, the hierarchy would look as shown in FIG. 17.It is important to note that these folders are actually moved in thisexample. Another point to note is that the namespace moves into thestorage platform, the actual streams are renamed as FILESTREAMs withappropriate pointers hooked up within the storage platform.

c) Not All Files are Migrated

Files that correspond to user data or that need thesearching/categorization that the storage platform provides arecandidates for migration into the storage platform data store.Preferably, in order to limit issues of application programcompatibility with the storage platform, the set of files that aremigrated to the storage platform of the present invention, in thecontext of the Microsft Windows operating system, are limited to thefiles in the MyDocuments folder, Internet Explorer (IE) Favorites, IEHistory, and Desktop .ini files in the Documents and Settings directory.Preferably, migrating Windows system files is not permitted.

d) NTFS Namespace Access to Storage Platform Files

In the embodiment described herein, it is desirable that files migratedinto the storage platform not be accessed via the NTFS namespace eventhough the actual file streams are stored in NTFS. This way, complicatedlocking and security considerations that arise from a multi-headedimplementation are avoided.

e) Expected Namespace/Drive Letters

Access to files and folders in the storage platform is provided via aUNC name of the form \\<machine name>\<WinfsShareName>. For the class ofapplications that require drive letters for operation, a drive lettercan be mapped to this UNC name.

I. Storage Platform API

As mentioned above, the storage platform comprises an API that enablesapplication programs to access the features and capabilities of thestorage platform discussed above and to access items stored in the datastore. This section describes one embodiment of a storage platform APIof the storage platform of the present invention.

FIG. 19 illustrates the basic architecture of the storage platform API,in accordance with the present embodiment. The storage platform API usesSQLClient 1900 to talk to the local data store 302 and may also useSQLClient 1900 to talk to remote data stores (e.g., data store 340). Thelocal store 302 may also talk to the remote data store 340 using eitherDQP (Distributed Query Processor) or through the storage platformsynchronization service (“Sync”) described above. The storage platformAPI 322 also acts as the bridge API for data store notifications,passing application's subscriptions to the notification engine 332 androuting notifications to the application (e.g., application 350 a, 350b, or 350 c), as also described above. In one embodiment, the storageplatform API 322 may also define a limited “provider” architecture sothat it can access data in Microsoft Exchange and AD.

1. Overview

The data access mechanism of the present embodiment of the storageplatform API of the present invention addresses four areas: query,navigation, actions, events.

Query

In one embodiment, the storage platform data store is implemented on arelational database engine 314; as a result, the full expressive powerof the SQL language is inherent in the storage platform. Higher levelquery objects provide a simplified model for querying the store, but maynot encapsulate the full expressive power of the storage.

Navigation

The storage platform data model builds a rich, extensible type system onthe underlying database abstractions. For the developer, the storageplatform data is a web of items. The storage platform API enablesnavigation from item to item via filtering, relationships, folders, etc.This is a higher level of abstraction than the base SQL queries; at thesame time, it allows rich filtering and navigation capabilities to beused with familiar CLR coding patterns.

Actions

The storage platform API exposes common actions on all items—Create,Delete, Update; these are exposed as methods on objects. In addition,domain specific actions such as SendMail, CheckFreeBusy, etc. are alsoavailable as methods. The API framework uses well defined patterns thatISVs can use to add value by defining additional actions.

Events

Data in the storage platform is dynamic. To let applications react whendata in the store is changed, the API exposes rich eventing,subscription, and notification capabilities to the developer.

2. Naming and Scopes

It is useful to distinguish between namespace and naming. The termnamespace, as it's commonly used, refers to the set of all namesavailable within some system. The system could be an XML schema, aprogram, the web, the set of all ftp sites (and their contents), etc.Naming is the process or algorithm used to assign unique names to allentities of interest within a namespace. Thus, naming is of interestbecause it is desirable to unambiguously refer to a given unit within anamespace. Thus, the term “namespace,” as used herein, refers to the setof all names available in all the storage platform instances in theuniverse. Items are the named entities in the storage platformnamespace. The UNC naming convention is used to ensure uniqueness ofitem names. Every item in every the storage platform store in theuniverse is addressable by a UNC name.

The highest organizational level in the storage platform namespace is aservice—which is simply an instance of the storage platform. The nextlevel of organization is a volume. A volume is the largest autonomouscontainer of items. Each storage platform instance contains one or morevolumes. Within a volume are items. Items are the data atoms in thestorage platform.

Data in the real world is almost always organized according to somesystem that makes sense in a given domain. Underlying all such dataorganization schemes is the notion of dividing the universe of our datainto named groups. As discussed above, this notion is modeled in thestorage platform by the concept of a Folder. A Folder is a special typeof Item; there are 2 types of Folders: Containment Folders and VirtualFolders.

Referring to FIG. 18, a Containment Folder is an item which containsholding Relationships to other Items and is the equivalent of the commonconcept of a file system folder. Each Item is “contained” within atleast one containment folder.

A Virtual Folder is a more dynamic way of organizing a collection ofItems; it is simply a name given a set of Items—the set is eitherenumerated explicitly or specified by a query. The Virtual Folder isitself an Item and can be thought of as representing a set of(non-holding) Relationships to a set of Items.

Sometimes, there is the need to model a tighter notion of containment;for example, a Word document embedded in an email message is, in asense, bound more tightly to its container than, for example, a filecontained within a folder. This notion is expressed by the concept ofEmbedded Items. An Embedded Item has a special kind of relationshipwhich references another Item; the referenced Item can be bound to orotherwise manipulated only within the context of the containing Item.

Finally, the storage platform provides the notion of categories as a wayof classification of Items and Elements. Every Item or Element in thestorage platform can have associated with it one or more categories. Acategory is, in essence, simply a name that is tagged on to theItem/Element. This name can be used in searches. The storage platformdata model allows the definition of a hierarchy of categories, thusenabling a tree-like classification of data.

An unambiguous name for an item is the triplet: (<serviceName,<volumeID>, <ItemID>). Some items (specifically, Folders andVirtualFolders) are collections of other items. This gives rise to analternative way of identifying items: (<serviceName>, <volumeID>,<itemPath>).

The storage platform names include the notion of a service context: aservice context is a name which maps to a (<volumeName>, <path>) pair.It identifies an item or a set of items—for instance, a folder, virtualfolder, etc. With the concept of service contexts, the UNC name for anyitem in the storage platform namespace becomes:

-   -   \\<serviceName>\<serviceContext>\<itemPath>

Users can create and delete service contexts. Also, the root directoryin each volume has a pre-defined context: volume-name$.

An ItemContext scopes a query (for example, a Find operation) bylimiting the results returned to those Items that live within aspecified path.

3. Storage Platform API Components

FIG. 20 schematically represents the various components of the storageplatform API, in accordance with the present embodiment of theinvention. The storage platform API consists of the followingcomponents: (1) data classes 2002, which represent the storage platformelement and item types, (2) runtime framework 2004, which manages objectpersistence and provides support classes 2006; and (3) tools 2008, whichare used to generate CLR classes from the storage platform schemas.

According to one aspect of the present invention, at design time, theschema author submits a schema document 2010 and code for domain methods2012 to the set of storage platform API design time tools 2008. Thesetools generate the client side data classes 2002 and the store schema2014 and store class definitions 2016 for that schema. “Domain” refersto a particular schema; for instance, we talk about domain methods forclasses in the Contacts schema, etc. These data classes 2002 are used atruntime by the application developer, in concert with the storageplatform API runtime framework classes 2006, to manipulate the storageplatform data.

For purposes of illustrating various aspects of the storage platform APIof the present invention, examples are presented based on an exemplaryContacts schema. A pictorial representation of this exemplary schema isillustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B.

4. Data Classes

According to an aspect of the present invention, each Item, ItemExtension, and Element type, as well as each Relationship, in thestorage platform data store has a corresponding class in the storageplatform API. Roughly, the fields of the type map to the fields of theclass. Each item, item extension, and element in the storage platform isavailable as an object of the corresponding class in the storageplatform API. The developer can query for, create, modify, or deletethese objects.

The storage platform comprises an initial set of schemas. Each schemadefines a set of Item and Element types, and a set of Relationships. Thefollowing is one embodiment of an algorithm for generating data classesfrom these schema entities:

-   -   For each schema S:    -   For each Item, I, in S a class named System.Storage.S.I is        generated. This class has the following members:        -   Overloaded constructors, including constructors that allow a            new item's initial folder and name to be specified.        -   A property for each field in I. If the field is            multi-valued, the property will be a collection of the            corresponding Element type.        -   An overloaded static method which finds multiple items            matching the filter (for example, a method named “FindAll”).        -   An overloaded static method which finds a single item            matching a filter (for example, a method named “FindOne”).        -   A static method which finds an item given its id (for            example, a method named “FindByID”).        -   A static method which finds an item given its name relative            to an ItemContext (for example, a method named            “FindByName”).        -   A method which saves changes to the item (for example, a            method named “Update”).        -   Overloaded static Create methods which create new instances            of the item. These methods allow the item's initial folder            to be specified in various ways.    -   For each Element, E, in S a class named System.Storage.S.E is        generated. This class has the following members:        -   A property for each field in E. If the field is            multi-valued, the property will be a collection of the            corresponding Element types.    -   For each Element, E, in S a class named        System.Storage.S.ECollection is generated. This class follows        general .NET Framework guidelines for strongly typed collection        classes. For Relationship based element types, this class will        also include the following members:        -   An overloaded method which finds multiple Item objects that            match a filter which implicitly includes the item in which            the collection appears in the source role. The overloads            include some that allow filtering based on Item sub-type            (for example, a method named “FindAllTargetItems”).        -   An overloaded method which finds a single Item object that            matches a filter which implicitly includes the item in which            the collection appears in the source role. The overloads            include some that allow filter based on Item sub-type (for            example, a method named “FindOneTargetItem”).        -   An overloaded method which finds objects of the nested            element type that match a filter which implicitly includes            the item in which the collection appears in the source role            (for example, a method named “FindAllRelationships”).        -   An overloaded method whichs find objects of the nested            element type that match a filter which implicitly includes            the item in which the collection appears in the source role            (for example, a method named            “FindAllRelationshipsForTarget”).        -   An overloaded method which finds a single object of the            nested element type that matches a filter which implicitly            includes the item in which the collection appears in the            source role (for example, a method named            “FindOneRelationship”).        -   An overloaded method which finds a single object of the            nested element type that matches a filter which implicitly            includes the item in which the collection appears in the            source role (for example, a method named            “FindOneRelationshipForTarget”).    -   For Relationship, R, in S a class named System.Storage.S.R is        generated. This class will have one or two sub-classes,        depending on if one or both relationship roles specify an end        point field.        Classes are also generated in this manner for each Item        Extension that has been created.

The data classes exist in the System.Storage.<schemaName> namespace,where <schemaName> is the name of the corresponding schema—such asContacts, Files, etc. For example, all classes corresponding to theContacts schema are in the System.Storage.Contacts namespace.

By way of example, with reference to FIGS. 21A and 21B, the contactsschema results in the following classes, contained in theSystem.Storage.Contact namespace:

-   -   Items: Item, Folder, WellKnownFolder, LocalMachineDataFolder,        UserDataFolder, Principal, Service, GroupService, PersonService,        PresenceService, ContactService, ADService, Person, User, Group,        Organization, HouseHold    -   Elements: NestedElementBase, NestedElement, IdentityKey,        SecurityID, EAddress, ContactEAddress, TelehoneNumber,        SMTPEAddress, InstantMessagingAddress, Template, Profile,        FullName, FamilyEvent, BasicPresence, WindowsPresence,        Relationship, TemplateRelationship, LocationRelationship,        FamilyEventLocationRelationship, HouseHoldLocationRelationship,        RoleOccupancy, EmployeeData, GroupMemberShip,        OrganizationLocationRelationship, HouseHoldMemberData,        FamilyData, SpouseData, ChildData

By way of further example, the detailed structure of the Person type, asdefined in the Contacts schema, is shown in XML below:

<Type Name=“Person” MajorVersion=“1” MinorVersion=“0”ExtendsType=“Core.Principal” ExtendsVersion=“1”> <Field Name=“Birthdate”Type=“the storage platformTypes.datetime” Nullable=“true”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“Gender” Type=“Base.CategoryRef”Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“false” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <FieldName=“PersonalNames” Type=“Contact.FullName” Nullable=“true”MultiValued=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <FieldName=“PersonalEAddresses” Type=“Core.EAddress” Nullable=“true”MultiValued=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <FieldName=“PersonalPostalAddresses” Type=“Core.PostalAddress” Nullable=“true”MultiValued=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“PersonalPicture”Type=“the storage platformTypes.image” Nullable=“true”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“Notes” Type=“Core.RichText”Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <FieldName=“Profession” Type=“Base.CategoryRef” Nullable=“true”MultiValued=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“DataSource”Type=“Base.IdentityKey” Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“true”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“ExpirationDate” Type=“the storageplatformTypes.datetime” Nullable=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <FieldName=“HasAllAddressBookData” Type=“the storage platformTypes.bit”Nullable=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“EmployeeOf”Type=“Contact.EmployeeData” Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“true”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> </Type>

This type results in the following class (only the public members areshown):

partial public class Person:

System.Storage.Core.Principal, System.Windows.Data.IDataUnit { publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDateTime Birthdate { get; set; } publicSystem.Storage.Base.CategoryRef Gender { get; set: } publicSystem.Storage.Contact.FullNameCollection PersonalNames { get; } publicSystem.Storage.Core.EAddressCollection PersonalEAddresses { get; }public System.Storage.Core.PostalAddressCollectionPersonalPostalAddresses { get; } public System.Data.SqlTypes.SqlBinaryPersonalPicture { get; set; } publicSystem.Storage.Core.RichTextCollection Notes { get; } publicSystem.Storage.Base.CategoryRefCollection Profession { get; } publicSystem.Storage.Base.IdentityKeyCollection DataSource { get; } publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlDateTime Expiration Date { get; set; } publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlBoolean HasAllAddressBookData { get; set; }public System.Storage.Contact.EmployeeDataCollection EmployeeOf { get; }public Person( ); public Person( System.Storage.Base.Folder folder,string name ); public static new System.Storage.FindResult FindAll(System.Storage.ItemStore store ); public static newSystem.Storage.FindResult FindAll( System.Storage.ItemStore store,string filter ); public static new Person FindOne(System.Storage.ItemStore store, string filter ); public new eventSystem.Windows.Data.PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChangedHandler;public static new Person FindByID( System.Storage.ItemStore store, longitem_key ); }

As yet another example, the detailed structure of the TelephoneNumbertype, as defined in the Contacts schema, is shown in the XML below:

<Type Name=“TelephoneNumber” ExtendsType=“Core.EAddress”MajorVersion=“1” MinorVersion=“0” ExtendsVersion=“1”> <FieldName=“CountryCode” Type=“the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(50)”Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“false” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <FieldName=“AreaCode” Type=“the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(256)”Nullable=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“Number” Type=“thestorage platformTypes.nvarchar(256)” Nullable=“true”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“Extension” Type=“the storageplatformTypes.nvarchar(256)” Nullable=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/><Field Name=“PIN” Type=“the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(50)”Nullable=“true” TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> </Type>

This type results in the following class (only the public members areshown):

partial public class TelephoneNumber:

System.Storage.Core.EAddress, System.Windows.Data.IDataUnit { publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlString CountryCode { get; set; } publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlString AreaCode { get; set; } publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlString Number { get; set; } publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlString Extension { get; set; } publicSystem.Data.SqlTypes.SqlString PIN { get; set; } public TelephoneNumber(); public new event System.Windows.Data.PropertyChangedEventHandlerPropertyChangedHandler; }

The hierarchy of classes resulting from a given schema directly reflectsthe hierarchy of types in that schema. As an example, consider the Itemtypes defined in the Contacts schema (see, FIGS. 21A and 21B). The classhierarchy corresponding to this in the storage platform API would be asfollows:

Object DataClass ElementBase RootItemBase Item Principal Group HouseholdOrganization Person User Service PresenceService ContactServiceADService RootNestedBase ... (Element classes)

Yet another schema, the schema that allows representing all theaudio/video media in the system (ripped audio files, audio CDs, DVDs,home videos, etc.), enables users/applications to store, organize,search through, and manipulate different kinds of audio/video media. Thebase media document schema is generic enough to represent any media, andthe extensions to this base schema are designed to handledomain-specific properties separately for audio and video media. Thisschema, and many, many others, are envisioned to operate directly orindirectly under the Core Schema.

5. Runtime Framework

The basic storage platform API programming model is object persistence.Application programs (or “applications”) execute a search on a store andretrieve objects representing the data in the store. Applications modifythe retrieved objects or create new objects, then cause their changes tobe propagated into the store. This process is managed by an ItemContextobject. Searches are executed using an ItemSearcher object and searchresults are accessible via a FindResult object.

a) Runtime Framework Classes

According to another inventive aspect of the storage platform API, theruntime framework implements a number of classes to support theoperation of the data classes. These framework classes define a commonset of behaviors for the data classes and, together with the dataclasses, provide the basic programming model for the storage platformAPI. Classes in the runtime framework belong to the System.Storagenamespace. In the present embodiment, the framework classes comprise thefollowing main classes: ItemContext, ItemSearcher, and FindResult. Otherminor classes, enum values, and delegates may also be provided.

(1) ItemContext

An ItemContext object (i) represents a set of item domains that anapplication program wants to search, (ii) maintains state informationfor each object that represents the state of the data as retrieved fromthe storage platform, and (iii) manages the transactions used wheninteracting with the storage platform and any file system with which thestorage platform may interoperate.

As an object persistence engine, ItemContext provides the followingservices:

-   -   1. Deserializes data read from the store into objects.    -   2. Maintains object identity (the same object is used to        represent a given item no matter how many times that item is        included in the result of queries).    -   3. Tracks object state.

ItemContext also performs a number of services unique to the storageplatform:

-   -   1. Generates and executes the storage platform update gram        operations necessary to persist changes.    -   2. Creates connections to multiple data stores as necessary to        enable the seamless navigation of reference relationships and to        allow objects retrieved from a multi-domain search to be        modified and saved.    -   3. Insures that file backed items are properly updated when        changes to the object(s) representing that item are saved.    -   4. Manages transactions across multiple storage platform        connections and, when updating data stored in file backed items        and file stream properties, the transacted file system.    -   5. Performs item creation, copy, move, and delete operations        that take storage platform relationship semantics, file backed        items, and stream typed properties into account.

Appendix A provides a source code listing of the ItemContext class, inaccordance with one embodiment thereof.

(2) ItemSearcher

The ItemSearcher class supports simple searches, which return whole Itemobjects, streams of Item objects, or streams of values projected fromItems. ItemSearcher encapsulates the core functionality that is commonto all of these: the concept of a target type and parameterized filtersthat are applied to that target type. The ItemSearcher also allowssearchers to be pre-compiled, or prepared, as an optimization when thesame search will be executed multiple types. Appendix B provides asource code listing of the ItemSearcher class and several closelyrelated classes, in accordance with one embodiment thereof.

(a) Target Type

The search target type is set when constructing an ItemSearcher. Thetarget type is a CLR type that is mapped to a queryable extent by thedata store. Specifically, it is a CLR type that is mapped to item,relationship, and item extension types as well as schematized views.

When retrieving a searcher using the ItemContext.GetSearcher method, thesearcher's target type is specified as a parameter. When a staticGetSearcher method is invoked on an item, relationship, or itemextension type (e.g. Person.GetSearcher), the target type is the item,relationship, or item extension type.

Search expressions provided in an ItemSearcher (for example, the searchfilter and through find options, or projection definitions) are alwaysrelative to the search target type. These expressions may specifyproperties of the target type (including properties of nested elements)and may specify joins to relationship and item extensions as describedelsewhere.

The search target type is made available via a read only property (forexample, an ItemSearcher.Type property).

(b) Filters

The ItemSearcher contains a property to specify filters (for example, aproperty named “Filters” as a collection of SearchExpression objects)that define the filter used in the search. All filters in the collectionare combined using a logical and operator when the search is executed.The filter may contain parameter references. Parameter values arespecified through the Parameters property.

(c) Preparing Searches

In situations where the same search is to be executed repeatedly,possibly with only parameter changes, some performance improvement canbe gained by pre-compiling, or preparing, the search. This isaccomplished with a set of prepare methods on the ItemSearcher (forexample, a method to prepare a Find that returns one or more Items,perhaps named “PrepareFind”, and a method to prepare a Find that returnsa projection, perhaps named “PrepareProject”). For example:

ItemSearcher searcher = ...; PreparedFind pf = searcher.PrepareFind( );... result = pf.FindAll( ); ... result = pf.FindAll( );

(d) Find Options

There are a number of options that can be applied to a simple search.These may be specified, for example, in a FindOptions object and passedto the Find methods. For example:

ItemSearcher searcher = Person.GetSearcher( context ); FindOptionsoptions = new FindOptions( ); options.MaxResults = 10;options.SortOptions.Add( “PersonalNames.Surname”, SortOrder.Ascending );FindResult result = searcher.Findall( options );

As a convenience, sort options may also be passed directly to the Findmethods:

ItemSearcher searcher = Person.GetSearcher( context ); FindResult result= searcher.FindAll( new SortOption( “PersonalNames.Surname”,SortOrder.Ascending ) );

The DelayLoad option determines if the values of large binary propertiesare loaded when the search results are retrieved or if loading isdelayed until they are referenced. The MaxResults option determines themaximum number of results that are returned. This is equivalent tospecifying TOP in a SQL query. It is most often used in conjunction withsorting.

A sequence of SortOption objects can be specified (for example, using aFindOptions.SortOptions property). The search results will be sorted asspecified by the first SortOption object, then by as specified by thesecond SortOption object, etc. The SortOption specifies a searchexpression that indicates the property that will be used for sorting.The expression specifies one of the following:

-   -   1. a scalar property in the search target type;    -   2. a scalar property in a nested element that is reachable from        the search target type by traversing single valued properties;        or    -   3. the result of an aggregation function with a valid argument        (for example, Max applied to a scalar property in a nested        element that is reachable from the search target type by        traversing a multi-valued property or a relationship).

For example, assuming the search target type isSystem.Storage.Contact.Person:

-   -   1. “Birthdate”—valid, birthdate is a scalar property of the        Person type;    -   2. “PersonalNames.Surname”—Invalid, PersonalNames is a        multi-valued property and no aggregation function was used;    -   3. “Count(PersonalNames)”—Valid, the count of PersonalNames. 4.        “Case(Contact.MemberOfHousehold).Household.HouseholdEAddresses.StartDat        e”—Invalid, uses relationship and multi-valued properties        without an aggregation function.    -   5.        “Max(Cast(Contact.MemberOfHousehold).Household.HouseholdEAddresses.Star        tdate)”—Valid, most recent household e-address start date.

(3) Item Result Stream (“FindResult”)

The ItemSearcher (for example, through the FindAll method) returns anobject that can be used to access the objects returned by the search(for example, a “FindResult” object). Appendix C provides a source codelisting of the FindResult class and several closely related classes, inaccordance with one embodiment thereof.

There are two distinct methods for getting results from a FindResultobject: using the reader pattern defined by IObjectReader (andIAsyncObjectReader) and using the enumerator pattern as defined byIEnumerable and IEnumerator. The enumerator pattern is standard in theCLR and supports language constructs like C#'s for each. For example:

ItemSearcher searcher = Person.GetSearcher( context );searcher.Filters.Add( “PersonalNames.Surname = ‘Smith’” ); FindResultresult = searcher.FindAll( ); foreach( Person person in result ) ...;

The reader pattern is supported because it allows results to beprocessed more efficiently by eliminating a data copy in some cases. Forexample:

ItemSearcher searcher = Person.GetSearcher( context );searcher.Filters.Add( “PersonalNames.SurName = ‘Smith’” ); FindResultresult = searcher.FindAll( ); while( result.Read( ) ) { Person person =(Person)result.Current; ... }

In addition, the reader pattern supports asynchronous operation:

ItemSearcher searcher = Person.GetSearcher( context );searcher.Filters.Add( “PersonalNames.SurName = ‘Smith’” ); FindResultresult = searcher.FindAll( ); IAysncResult asyncResult =result.BeginRead( new AsyncCallback( MyCallback ) ); void MyCallback(IAsyncResult asyncResult ) { if( result.EndRead( asyncResult ) ) {Person person = (Person)result.Current; ... } }

In the present embodiment, a FindResult should be closed when it is nolonger needed. This can be done by calling the Close method or usinglanguage constructs such as C#'s using statement. For example:

ItemSearcher searcher = Person.GetSearcher( context );searcher.Filters.Add( “PersonalNames.SurName = ‘Smith’”); using(FindResult result = searcher.FindAll( ) ) { while( result.Read( ) ) {Person person = (Person)result.Current; ... } }

b) Runtime Framework in Operation

FIG. 22 illustrates the runtime framework in operation. The runtimeframework operates as follows:

-   -   1. An application 350 a, 350 b, or 350 c binds to an item in the        storage platform.    -   2. The framework 2004 creates an ItemContext object 2202        corresponding to the bound item and returns it to the        application.    -   3. The application submits a Find on this ItemContext to get a        collection of Items; the returned collection is conceptually an        object graph 2204 (due to relationships).    -   4. The application changes, deletes, and inserts data.    -   5. The application saves the changes by calling the Update( )        method.

c) Common Programming Patterns

This section provides a variety of examples of how the storage platformAPI framework classes can be used to manipulate items in the data store.

(1) Opening and Closing ItemContext Objects

An application gets the ItemContext object it will use to interact withthe data store, e.g. by calling a static ItemContext.Open method andproviding the path or paths that identify the item domains that will beassociated with the ItemContext. Item domains scope the searchesperformed using the ItemContext such that only the domain item and theitems contained in that item will be subject to the search. Examples areas follows:

-   -   Open an ItemContext with the DefaultStore storage platform share        on the local computer

ItemContext ic = ItemContext.Open( );

-   -   Open an ItemContext with a given storage platform share

ItemContext ic = ItemContext.Open( @“\\myserver1\DefaultStore” );

-   -   Open an ItemContext with an item under a storage platform share

ItemContext ic = ItemContext.Open( @“\\myserver1\WinFSSpecs\api\m6” );

-   -   Open an ItemContext with multiple item domains

ItemContext ic = ItemContext.Open( @“\\myserver1\My Documents”,@“\\jane1\My Documents”, @“\\jane2\My Documents” );

When an ItemContext is no longer needed, it must be closed.

-   -   Explicitly Close an ItemContext

ItemContext ic = ItemContext.Open( ); ... ic.Close( ); Close usingstatement with an ItemContext using( ItemContext ic = ItemContext.Open() ) { ...; }

(2) Searching for Objects

According to another aspect of the present invention, the storageplatform API provides a simplified query model that enables applicationprogrammers to form queries based on various properties of the items inthe data store, in a manner that insulates the application programmerfrom the details of the query language of the underlying databaseengine.

Applications can execute a search across the domains specified when theItemContext was opened using an ItemSearcher object returned by theItemContext.GetSearcher method. Search results are accessed using aFindResult object. Assume the following declarations for the examplesbelow:

ItemContext ic = ...; ItemSearcher searcher = null; FindResult result =null; Item item = null; Relationship relationship = null; ItemExtensionitemExtension = null;

The basic search pattern involves using an ItemSearcher object retrievedfrom an ItemContext by calling the GetSearcher method.

-   -   Search for all items of a given type

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); result =searcher.FindAll( ); foreach( Person p in result ) ...;

-   -   Search for items of a given type that satisfy a filter

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames.Surname = ’Smith’″ ); result = searcher.FindAll( );foreach( Person p in result ) ...;

-   -   Use a parameter in a filter string

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(“Birthdate < @ Date” ); searcher.Parameters[“Date”] = someDate; result =searcher.FindAll( ); foreach( Person p in result ) ...;

-   -   Search for relationships of a given type and satisfying a filter

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( EmployeeEmployer ) );searcher.Filters.Add( “StartDate <= @ Date AND (EndDate >= @ Date ORisnull(EndDate))” ); searcher.Parameters[“Date”] = someDate; result =searcher.FindAll( ); Foreach( EmployeeEmployer ee in result ) ...;

-   -   Search for items with relationships of a given type and        satisfying a filter

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Folder ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″MemberRelationships.Name like ’A %’″ ); // See ]ApiRel] result =searcher.FindAll( ); Foreach( Folder f in result ) ...;

-   -   Search for item extensions of a given type and satisfying a        filter

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( ShellExtension ) );searcher.Filters.Add( ″Keywords.Value = ’Foo’″ ); result =searcher.FindAll( ); foreach( ShellExtension se in result ) ...;

-   -   Search for items with item extensions of a given type and        satisfying a filter

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″Extensions.Cast(@Type).Keywords.Value = ’Foo’″ ); // See [ApiExt]searcher.Parameters[″Type″] = typeof( ShellExtension ); result =searcher.FindAll( ); foreach( Person p in result ) ...;

(a) Search Options

Various options can be specified when executing a search, includingsorting, delay loading, and limiting the number of results.

-   -   Sort search results

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames.Surname = ’Smith’″ ); SearchOptions options = newSearchOptions( ); options.SortOptions.Add( new SortOption( ″Birthdate″,SortOrder.Ascending ) ); result = searcher.FindAll( options ); foreach(Person p in result ) ...; // A shortcut is available: searcher =ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames.Surname = ’Smith’″ ); result = searcher.FindAll( newSortOption( ″Birthdate″, SortOrder.Ascending ) ); foreach( Person p inresult ) ...;

-   -   Limit result count

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames.Surname = ’Smith’″ ); SearchOptions options = newSearchOptions( ); options.MaxResults = 10; result = searcher.FindAll(options ); foreach( Person p in result ) ...;

(b) FindOne and FindOnly

On occasion retrieving only the first result is useful, especially whenspecifying sort criteria. In addition, some searches are expected toreturn only one object and are not expected to return no objects.

-   -   Search for one object

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames.Surname = ’Smith’″ ); Person p = searcher.FindOne( newSortOption( ″Birthdate″ SortOrder.Ascending ) ) as Person; if(p != null)...;

-   -   Search for single object that is expected to always exist

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( Person ) ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames[Surname = ’Smith’ AND Givenname ’John’]″ ); try { Personp = searcher.FindOnly( ); ...; } catch( Exception e ) { ...; }

(c) Search Shortcuts on ItemContext

There are also a number of shortcut methods on ItemContext that makeexecuting simple searches as easy as possible.

-   -   Search using the ItemContext.FindAll shortcut

result = ic.FindAll( typeof( Person ), ″PersonalNames.Surname = ’Smith’″); foreach( Person p in result ) ...;

-   -   Search using the ItemContext.FindOne shortcut

Person p = ic.FindOne( typeof( Person ), ″PersonalNames.Surname =’Smith’″ ) as Person;

(d) Find by ID or Path

In addition, Items, relationships, and item extensions can be retrievedby providing their id(s). Items may also be retrieved by path.

-   -   Get items, relationships, and item extensions given their id(s)

item = ic.FindItemById( iid ); relationship = ic.FindRelationshipById(iid, rid ); itemExtension = ic.FindItemExtensionById( iid, eid );

-   -   Get items given a path

// Single domain only item = ic.FindItemByPath( @“temp\foo.txt” ); //Single or multi-domain result = ic.FindAllItemsByPath( @“temp\foo.txt”); foreach( Item I in result ) ...;

(e) The GetSearcher Pattern

There are many places in the storage platform API where it is desirableto provide a helper method that executes a search in the context ofanother object or with specific parameters. The GetSearcher patternenables these scenarios. There are many GetSearcher methods in the API.Each returns an ItemSearcher pre-configured to perform a given search.For example:

searcher = itemContext.GetSearcher( ); searcher = Person.GetSearcher( );searcher = EmployeeEmployer.GetSearcherGivenEmployer( organization );searcher = person.GetSearcherForReports( );You can add additional filters before executing the search:

searcher = person.GetSearcherForReports( ); searcher.Filters.Add(″PersonalNames.Surname=’Smith’″ );You can choose how you want the results:

FindResult findResult = searcher.FindAll( ); Person person =searcher.FindOne( );

(3) Updating the Store

Once an object has been retrieved by a search it may be modified by theapplication as needed. New objects may also be created and associatedwith existing objects. Once the application has made all the changesthat form a logical group, the application calls ItemContext.Update topersist those changes to the store. According to yet another aspect ofthe storage platform API of the present invention, the API collectschanges to an item made by an application program and then organizesthem into the correct updates required by the database engine (or anykind of storage engine) on which the data store is implemented. Thisenables application programmers to make changes to an item in memory,while leaving the complexity of data store updates to the API.

-   -   Save Changes to a Single Item

Person p = ic.FindItemById( pid ) as Person; p.DisplayName = “foo”;p.TelephoneNumbers.Add( new TelephoneNumber( “425-555-1234” ) );ic.Update( );

-   -   Save Changes to Multiple Items

Household h1 = ic.FindItemById( hid1 ) as Household; Household h2 =ic.FindItemById( hid2 ) as Household; Person p = ic.FindItemById( pid )as Person; h1.MemberRelationships.Remove( p );h2.MemberRelationships.Add( p ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Create a new Item

Folder f = ic.FindItemById( fid ) as Folder; Person p = new Person( );p.DisplayName = “foo”; f.Relationships.Add( new FolderMember( p, “foo” )); ic.Update( ); // Or using a shortcut... Folder f = ic.FindItemById(fid ) as Folder; Person p = new Person( ); p.DisplayName = “foo”;f.MemberRelationships.Add( p, “foo” ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Delete relationships (and possibly the target Item)

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( FolderMember ) );searcher.Filters.Add( “SourceItemId=@fid” ); searcher.Filters.Add(“TargetItemId=@pid” ); searcher.Parameters.Add( “fid”, fid );searcher.Parameters.Add( “pid”, pid ); foreach( FolderMember fm insearcher.FindAll( ) ) fm.MarkForDelete( ); ic.Update( ); // Or using ashortcut... Folder f = ic.FindItemById( fid ) as Folder;f.MemberRelationships.Remove( pid ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Add an Item Extension

Item item = ic.FindItemById( iid ); MyExtension me = new MyExtension( );me.Foo = “bar”; item.Extensions.Add( me ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Delete Item Extensions

searcher = ic.GetSearcher( typeof( MyExtension ) );searcher.Filters.Add( “ItemId=@iid” ); searcher.Parameters.Add( “iid”,iid ); foreach( MyExtension me in searcher.FindAll( ) )me.MarkForDelete( ); ic.Update( ); // Or using a shortcut... Item i =ic.FindItemById( iid ); i.Extensions.Remove( typeof( MyExtension ) );ic.Update( );

6. Security

With reference to section II.E above (Security), in the presentembodiment of the storage platform API, there are five methods availableon the Item Context for retrieving and modifying the security policyassociated with an item in the store. These are:

-   -   1. GetItemSecurity;    -   2. SetItemSecurity;    -   3. GetPathSecurity;    -   4. SetPathSecurity; and    -   5. GetEffectiveItemSecurity.

GetItemSecurity and SetItemSecurity provide the mechanism to retrieveand modify the explicit ACL associated with the item. This ACL isindependent of the paths that exist to the item and will be in playindependent of the holding relationships which have this item as thetarget. This enables the administrators to reason about the itemsecurity independent of the paths that exist to the item if they sodesire.

The GetPathSecurity and SetPathSecurity provide the mechanism forretrieving and modifying the ACL that exists on an item because of aholding relationship from another folder. This ACL is composed from theACL's of the various ancestors to the item along the path underconsideration along with the explicit ACL if any supplied for that path.The difference between this ACL and the ACL in the previous case is thatthis ACL remains in play only as long as the corresponding holdingrelationship exists while the explicit item ACL is independent of anyholding relationship to an item.

The ACL's that can be set on an item with SetItemSecurity andSetPathSecurity is restricted to inheritable and object specific ACE's.They cannot contain any ACE marked as inherited.

The GetEffectiveItemSecurity retrieves the various path based ACL's aswell as the explicit ACL on the item. This reflects the authorizationpolicy in effect on the given item.

7. Support for Relationships

As discussed above, the data model of the storage platform defines“relationships” that allow items to be related to one another. When thedata classes for a schema are generated, the following classes areproduced for each relationship type:

-   -   1. A class that represents the relationship itself. This class        is derived from the Relationship class and contains members        specific to the relationship type.    -   2. A strongly typed “virtual” collection class. This class is        derived from VirtualRelationshipCollection and allows        relationship instances to be created and deleted.

This section describes the support for relationshps in the storageplatform API.

a) Base Relationship Types

The storage platform API provides a number of types in theSystem.Storage namespace that form the foundation of the relationshipAPI. These are:

-   -   1. Relationship—the base type of all relationship classes    -   2. VirtualRelationshipCollection—the base type for all        relationship collections    -   3. ItemReference, ItemIdReference, ItemPathReference—Represent        the item reference types; the relationship among these types is        illustrated in FIG. 11.

(1) Relationship Class

The following is the base class for relationship classes.

public abstract class Relati nship : StoreObject { // Create withdefault values. pr tect d Relationship( ItemIDReferenctargetItemReference ); // Informs the relationship that it has beenadded to a relationship collection. The object // will interrogate thecollection to determine the source item, item context, etc. internalAddedToCollection( VirtualRelationshipCollection collection ); // Therelationship's id. public RelationshipId RelationshipId { get; } // Theid of the source item. public ItemId SourceItemId { get; } // Get thesource item. public Item SourceItem { get; } // Reference to the targetitem. public ItemIdReference TargetItemReference { get; } // Get thetarget item (calls TargetItemReference.GetItem( )). public ItemTargetItem { get; } // Determines if the ItemContext already has aconnection to the target item's domain (calls//TargetItemReference.IsDomainConnected). public boolIsTargetDomainConnected { get; } // The name of the target item in thenamespace. The name must be unique across all the // source item'sholding relationships. public OptionalValue<string> Name {get; set;} //Determines if this is a holding or reference relationship. publicOptionalValue<bool> IsOwned {get; set;} }

(2) ItemReference Class

The following is the base class for item reference types.

public abstract class ItemReference : NestedElement { // Create withdefault values. protected ItemReference( ); // Returns the itemreferenced. public virtual Item GetItem( ); // Determine if a connectionto the referenced item's domain has been established. public virtualbool IsDomainConnected( ); }

ItemReference objects may identify items that exist in a store otherthan the one where the item reference itself resides. Each derived typespecifies how a reference to a remote store is constructed and used.Implementations of GetItem and IsDomainConnected in derived classes usethe ItemContext's multi-domain support to load items from the necessarydomain and to determine if a connection to the domain has already beenestablished.

(3) ItemIdReference Class

The following is the ItemIdRefrence class—an Item reference that uses anitem id to identify the target item.

public class ItemIdReference : ItemReference { // Construct a newItemIdReference with default values. public ItemIdReference( ); //Construct a new ItemIdReference to the specified item. The domainassociated with the // Item is used as the locator. publicItemIdReference( Item item ); // Construct a new ItemIdReference with anull locator and the given target item id. public ItemIdReference(ItemId itemId ); // Construct a new ItemIdReference with the givenlocator and item id values. public ItemIdReference( string locator,ItemId itemId ); // The id of the target item. public ItemId ItemId{get; set;} // A path identifying that WinFS item that contains thetarget item in its domain. If null, // the domain that contains the itemis not known. public OptionalValue<string> Locator {get; set;} //Determine if a connection to the referenced item's domain has beenestablished. public override bool IsDomainConnected( ); // Retrieves thereferenced item. public override Item GetItem( ); }

GetItem and IsDomainConnected use the ItemContext's multi-domain supportto load items from the necessary domain and to determine if a connectionto the domain has already been established. This feature is notimplemented yet.

(4) ItemPathReference Class

The ItemPathReference Class is an item reference that uses a path toidentify the target item. The code for the class is as follows:

public class ItemPathReference : ItemReference { // Construct an itempath reference with default values. public ItemPathReference( ); //Construct an item path reference with no locator and the given path.public ItemPathReference( string path ); // Construct an item pathreference with the given locator and path. public ItemPathReference(string locator, string path ); // A path identifying that WinFS itemthat contains the target item in it's domain. publicOptionalValue<string> Locator {get; set;} // The path of the target itemrelative to the item domain specified by locator. public string Path{get; set;} // Determine if a connection to the referenced item's domainhas been established. public override bool IsDomainConnected( ); //Retrieves the referenced item. public override Item GetItem( ); }

GetItem and IsDomainConnected use the ItemContext's multi-domain supportto load items from the necessary domain and to determine if a connectionto the domain has already been established.

(5) RelationshipId Structure

The RelationshipId Structure encapsulates a relationship id GULID.

public class RelationshipId { // Generates a new relations id GUID.public static RelationshipId NewRelationshipId( ); // Initialize with anew relationship id GUID. public RelationshipId( ); // Initialize withthe specified GUID. public RelationshipId( Guid id ); // Initialize witha string representation of a GUID. public Relati nshipId( string id );// Returns a string representation of the relationship id GUID. publicov rrid string T String( ); // Converts a System.Guid instance into aRelationshipId instance. public static implicit operatorRelationshipId(Guid guid); // Converts a RelationshipId instance into aSystem.Guid instance. public static implicit operatorGuid(RelationshipId relationshipId); }

This value type wraps a guide so that parameters and properties can bestrongly typed as a relationship id. OptionalValue<RelationshipId>should be used when a relationship id is nullable. An Empty value, suchas provided by System.Guid.Empty, is not exposed. A RelationshipIdcannot be constructed with an empty value. When the default constructoris used to create a RelationshipId, a new GUID is created.

(6) VirtualRelationshipCollection Class

The VirtualRelationshipCollection class implements a collection ofrelationship objects that includes objects from the data store, plus newobjects that have been added to the collection, but not includingobjects that have been removed from the store. Objects of a specifiedrelationship type with a given source item id are included in thecollection.

This is the base class for the relationship collection class that isgenerated for each relationship type. That class can be used as the typeof a property in the source item type to provide access and easymanipulation of a given item's relationships.

Enumerating the contents of a VirtualRelationshipCollection requiresthat a potentially large number of relationship objects be loaded fromthe store. Applications should use the Count property to determine howmany relationships could be loaded before they enumerate the contents ofthe collection. Adding and removing objects to/from the collection doesnot require relationships to be loaded from the store.

For efficiency, it is preferable that applications search forrelationships that satisfy specific criteria instead of enumerating allof an item's relationships using a VirtualRelationshipCollection object.Adding relationship objects to the collection causes the representedrelationships to be created in the store when ItemContext.Update iscalled. Removing relationship objects from the collection causes therepresented relationship to be deleted in the store whenItemContext.Update is called. The virtual collection contains thecorrect set of objects regardless of whether or not a relationshipobject is added/removed through the Item.Relationships collection or anyother relationship collection on that item.

The following code defines the VirtualRelationshipCollection class:

public abstract class VirtualRelationshipCollection : ICollection { //The collection will contain the relationships of the specified typeowned by the item // identified by itemId. protectedVirtualRelationshipCollection( ItemContext itemContext, ItemId itemId,Type relationshipType ); // The enumerator will return all the objectsretrieved from the store minus any object that // with the state Deletedin addition to objects that have the state Inserted. public IEnumeratorGetEnumerator( ); // Returns a count of the number of relationshipobjects that would be returned by the // enumerator. This count iscomputed without needing to retrieve all objects from the store. publicint Count { get; } // Always returns false. public boolICollection.IsSynchronized( ) { get; } // Always returns this object.public object ICollection.SyncRoot { get; } // Searches the store forthe necessary objects. public void Refresh( ); // Adds the specifiedrelationship to the collection. The object must have the state //Constructed or Removed. If the state is Constructed, it is changed toAdded. If the state // is Removed, it is changed to Retrieved orModified as appropriate. The relationship's // source item id must bethe same as the source item id provided when the collection was //constructed. protected void Add( Relationship relationship ); // Removesthe specified relationship from the collection. The object's state mustbe // Added, Retrieved or Modified. If the object's state is Added, itwill be set to // Constructed. If the object's state is Retrieved orModified, it will be set to Removed. // The relationship's source itemid must be the same as the source item id provided when // thecollection was constructed. protected void Remove( Relationshiprelationship ); // The objects that have been removed from thecollection. public ICollection RemovedRelationships { get; } // Theobjects that have been added to the collection. public ICollectionAddedRelationships { get; } // The objects that have been retrieved fromthe store. This collection will be empty until // after theVirtualRelationshipCollection is enumerated or Refresh is called(getting this // property's value does not cause the collection to befilled). public ICollection StoredRelationships { get; } // Asynchronousmethods. public IAsyncResult BeginGetCount( IAsyncCallback callback,object state ); public int EndGetCount( IAsyncResult asyncResult );public IAsyncResult BeginRefresh( IAsyncCallback callback, object state); public void EndRefresh( IAsyncResult asyncResult ); }

b) Generated Relationship Types

When generating classes for a storage platform schema, a class isgenerated for each relationship declaration. In addition to a class thatrepresents a relationship itself, a relationship collection class isalso generated for each relationship. These classes are used as the typeof properties in the relationship's source or target item classes.

This section describes the classes that are generated using a number of“prototype” classes. That is, given a specified relationshipdeclaration, the class that is generated is described. It is importantto note the class, type, and end point names used in the prototypeclasses are place holders for the names specified in the schema for therelationship, and should not be taken literally.

(1) Generated Relationship Types

This section describes the classes that are generated for eachrelationship type. For example:

<Relationship Name=“RelationshipPrototype” BaseType=“Holding”> <SourceName=“Head” ItemType=“Foo”/> <Target Name=“Tail” ItemType=“Bar”ReferenceType=“ItemIDReference” /> <Property Name=“SomeProperty”Type=“WinFSTypes.String” /> </Relationship>

Given this relationship definition RelationshipPrototype andRelationshipPrototypeCollection classes would be generated. TheRelationshipPrototype class represents the relationship itself. TheRelationshipPrototypeCollection class provides access to theRelationshipPrototype instances that have a specified item as the sourceend point.

(2) RelationshipPrototype Class

This is a prototypical relationship class for a holding relationshipnamed “HoldingRelationshipPrototype” where the source end point is named“Head” and specifies the “Foo” item type and the target end point isnamed “Tail” and specifies the “Bar” item type. It is defined asfollows:

public class RelationshipPrototype : Relationship { publicRelationshipPrototype( Bar tailItem ); public RelationshipPrototype( BartailItem, string name ); public RelationshipPrototype( Bar tailItem,string name, bool IsOwned ); public RelationshipPrototype( Bar tailItem,bool IsOwned ); public RelationshipPrototype( ItemIdReferencetailItemReference ); // Get the Head item (calls base.SourceItem).public Foo HeadItem { get; } // Get the Tail item (callsbase.TargetItem). public Bar TailItem { get; } // Represents additionalproperties declared in the schema for the relationship. These are //generated just as for properties in an item or nested element type.public string SomeProperty {get; set;} public static ItemSearcherGetSearcher( ItemContext itemContext ); public static ItemSearcherGetSearcher( Foo headItem ); public static FindResult FindAll( stringfilter ); public static RelationshipPrototype FindOne( string filter );public static RelationshipPrototype FindOnly( string filter ); }

(3) RelationshipPrototypeCollection Class

This is a prototypical class, generated with the RelationshipPrototypeclass, that maintains a collection of RelationshipPrototype relationshipinstances owned by a specified item. It is defined as follows:

public class RelationshipPrototypeCollection :VirtualRelationshipCollection { public RelationshipPrototypeCollection(ItemContext itemContext, ItemId headItemId ); public void Add(RelationshipPrototype relationship ); public RelationshipPrototype Add(Bar bar ); public RelationshipPrototype Add( Bar bar, string name );public RelationshipPrototype Add( Bar bar, string name, b ol IsOwn d );public RelationshipPrototype Add( Bar bar, bool IsOwned ); public voidRem ve( RelationshipPrototype relationship ); public void Remove( Barbar ); public void Remove( ItemId barItemId ); public void Remove(RelationshipId relationshipId ); public void Remove( string name ); }

c) Relationship Support in the Item Class

The Item class contains a Relationships property that provide access tothe relationships in which that item is the source of the relationship.The Relationships property has the type RelationshipCollection.

(1) Item Class

The following code shows the relationship context properties of the Itemclass:

public abstract class Item : StoreObject { ... // Collection ofrelationships where this item is the source. publicRelationshipCollection Relationships {get;} ... }

(2) RelationshipCollection Class

This class provides access to the relationship instances where a givenitem is the source of the relationship. It is defined as follows:

public class RelationshipCollection : VirtualRelationshipCollection {public RelationshipCollection( ItemContext itemContext, ItemIdheadItemId ); public void Add( Relationship relationship ); publicRelationship Add( Bar bar ); public Relationship Add( Bar bar, stringname ); public Relationship Add( Bar bar, string name, bool IsOwned );public Relationship Add( Bar bar, bool IsOwned ); public void Remov (Relationship r lationship ); public void Remove( Bar bar ); public voidRemove( It mId barIt mId ); public void R m ve( RelationshipId relatinshipId ); public void Remove( string nam ); }

d) Relationship Support in Search Expressions

It is possible to specify the traversal of a join between relationshipsand related items in a search expression.

(1) Traversing From Items to Relationships

When the current context of a search expression is a set of items, ajoin between the items and relationship instances where the item is thesource can be done using the Item.Relationships property. Joining torelationships of a specific type can be specified using the searchexpression Cast operator.

Strongly typed relationship collections (e.g.Folder.MemberRelationships) can also be used in a search expression. Thecast to the relationship type is implicit.

Once the set of relationships has been established, the properties ofthat relationship are available for use in predicates or as the targetof a projection. When used to specify the target of a projection, theset of relationships would be returned. For example, the followingstatement would find all persons related to an organization where theStartDate property of the relationships had a value greater then orequal to ‘1/1/2000’.

FindResult result = Person.FindAll( context,″Relationships.Cast(Contact.EmployeeOfOrganization).StartDate >’1/1/2000’″ );If the Person type had a property EmployerContext of typeEmployeeSideEmployerEmployee-Relationships (as generated for anEmployeeEmployer relationship type), this could be written as:

FindResult result = Person.FindAll( context,″EmployerRelationships.StartDate > ’1/1/2000’″ );

(2) Traversing From Relationships to Items

When the current context of the search expression is a set ofrelationships, a join from a relationship to either end point of therelationship can be traversed by specifying the name of the end point.Once the set of related items has been established, the properties ofthose items are available for use in predicates or as the target of aprojection. When used to specify the target of a projection, the set ofitems would be returned. For example, the following statement would findall EmployeeOfOrganization relationships (regardless of organization)where the employee's last name is name “Smith”:

FindResult result = EmployeeOfOrganization.FindAll( context,“Employee.PersonalNames[SurName=’Smith’]” );

The search expression Cast operator can be used to filter the type ofthe end point item. For example, to find all the MemberOfFolderrelationship instances where the member is a Person item with thesurname “Smith”:

FindResult result = MemberOfFolder.FindAll( context,“Member.Cast(Contact.Person).PersonalNames[Surname=’Smith’]” );

(3) Combining Relationship Traversal

The previous two patterns, traversing from items to relationships andfrom relationships to items, can be combined to achieve arbitrarilycomplex traversals. For example, to find all organizations with anemployee that has the Surname “Smith”:

FindResult result = Organization.FindAll( context,“EmployeeRelationships.” + “Employee.” + “PersonalNames[SurName =‘Smith’]” );

The example below would find all Person items representing people wholive in a household that is in the “New York” area (TODO: this is nolonger supported . . . what is the alternative).

FindResult result = Person.FindAll( context,“Relationships.Cast(Contact.MemberOfHousehold).” + “Household.” +“Relationships.Cast(Contact.LocationOfHousehold).” + “MetropolitonRegion= ‘New York’“ );

e) Examples Uses of Relationship Support

The following are examples of how the relationship support in thestorage platform API can be used to manipulate relationships. For theexamples below, assume the following declarations:

ItemContext ic = ...; ItemId fid = ...; // a folder item's id Folderfolder = Folder.FindById( ic, fid ); ItemId sid = ...; // a sourceitem's id. Item source = Item.FindById( ic, sid ); ItemId tid = ...; //an target item's id. Item target = Item.FindById( ic, tid );ItemSearcher searcher = null;

(1) Searching for Relationships

It is possible to search for source or target relationships. Filters canbe used to select relationships of a specified type and that have givenproperty values. Filters can also be used to select relationships basedrelated item type or property values. For example, the followingsearches can be performed:

-   -   All relationships where a given item is the source

searcher = Relationship.GetSearcher( folder ); foreach( Relationshiprelationship in searcher.FindAll( ) ) ...;

-   -   All relationships where a given item is the source that have a        name that matches “A%”

searcher = Relationship.GetSearcher( folder ); searcher.Filters.Add(″Name like ’A%’″ ); foreach( Relationship relationship insearcher.FindAll( ) ) ...;

-   -   All FolderMember relationships where a given item is the source

searcher = FolderMember.GetSearcher( folder ); foreach( FolderMemberfolderMember in searcher.FindAll( ) ) ...;

-   -   All FolderMember relationships where a given item is the source        and a name like ‘A%’

searcher = FolderMember.GetSearcher( folder ); searcher.Filters.Add(″Name like ’A%’″ ); foreach( FolderMember folderMember insearcher.FindAll( ) ) ...;

-   -   All FolderMember relationships where the target item is a Person

searcher = FolderMember.GetSearcher( folder ); searcher.Filters.Add(″MemberItem.Cast(Person)″ ); foreach( FolderMember folderMember insearcher.FindAll( ) ) ...;

-   -   All FolderMember relationships where the target item is a Person        with the Surname “Smith”

searcher = FolderMember.GetSearcher( folder ); searcher.Filters.Add(″MemberItem.Cast(Person).PersonalNames.Surname=’Smith’″ ); foreach(FolderMember folderMember in searcher.FindAll( ) ) ...;

In addition to the GetSearcher API shown above, each relationship classsupports static FindAll, FindOne, and FindOnly API. In addition, arelationship type can be specified when calling ItemContext.GetSearcher,ItemContext.FindAll, ItemContext.FindOne, or ItemContext.FindOnly.

(2) Navigating from a Relationship to the Source and Target Items

Once a relationship object has been retrieved through a search, it ispossible to “navigate” to the target or source item. The baserelationship class provides SourceItem and TargetItem properties thatreturn an Item object. The generated relationship class provides theequivalent strongly typed and named properties (e.g.FolderMember.FolderItem and FolderMember.MemberItem). For example:

-   -   Navigate to source and target item for relationship with the        name “Foo”

searcher = Relationship.GetSearcher( ); searcher.Filters.Add(″Name=’Foo’″ ); foreach( Relationship relationship insearcher.FindAll( ) ) { Item source = relationship.SourceItem; Itemtarget = relationship.TargetItem; }

-   -   Navigate to the target item

searcher = FolderMember.GetSearcher( folder ); searcher.Filters.Add(″Name like ’A%’″ ); foreach( FolderMember folderMember insearcher.FindAll( ) ) { Item member = folderMember.TargetItem; ... }

Navigating to a target item works even if the target item is not in thedomain where the relationship was found. In such cases, the storageplatform API opens a connection to the target domain as needed.Applications can determine if a connection would be required beforeretrieving the target item.

-   -   Check for target item in an unconnected domain

searcher = Relationship.GetSearcher( source ); foreach( Relationshiprelationship in searcher.FindAll( ) ) { if(reltionship.IsTargetDomainConnected ) { Item member =relationship.TargetItem; ... } }

(3) Navigating from Source Items to Relationships

Given an item object, it is possible to navigate to the relationshipsfor which that item is the source without executing an explicit search.This is done using the Item.Relationships collection property or astrongly typed collection property such as Folder.MemberRelationships.From a relationship, it is possible to navigate to the target item. Suchnavigation works even if the target item is not in the item domainassociated with the source item's ItemContext, including when the targetitem is not in the same store as the target item. For example:

-   -   Navigate from a Source Item to Relationship to Target Items

Console.WriteLine( “Item {0} is the source of the followingrelationships:”, source.ItemId ); foreach( Relationship relationship insource.Relationships ) { Item target = relationship.TargetItem;Console.WriteLine( “ {0} = => {1}”, relationship.RelationshipId,target.ItemId ); }

-   -   Navigate from a Folder Item to Foldermember Relationships to        Target Items

Console.WriteLine( “Item {0} is the source of the followingrelationships:”, folder.ItemId ); foreach( FolderMember folderMember infolder.MemberRelationships ) { Item target =folderMember.GetMemberItem( ); Console.WriteLine( “ {0} = => {1}”,folderMember.RelationshipId, target.ItemId ); }

An item may have many relationships, so applications should use cautionwhen enumerating a relationship collection. In general, a search shouldbe used to identify particular relationships of interest instead ofenumerating the entire collection. Still, having a collection basedprogramming model for relationships is valuable enough, and items withmany relationships rare enough, that the risk of abuse by the developeris justified. Applications can check the number of relationships in thecollection and use a different programming model if needed. For example:

-   -   Check the size of a relationship collection

if( folder.MemberRelationships.Count > 1000 ) { Console.WriteLine( “Toomany relationships!” ); } else { ... }

The relationship collections described above are “virtual” in the sensethat they are not actually populated with objects that represent eachrelationship unless the application attempts to enumerate thecollection. If the collection is enumerated, the results reflect what isin the store, plus what has been added by the application but not yetsaved, but not any relationships that have been removed by theapplication but not saved.

(4) Creating Relationships (and Items)

New relationships are created by creating a relationship object, addingit to a relationship collection in the source item, and updating theItemContext. To create a new item, a holding or embedding relationshipmust be created. For example:

-   -   Add a new item to an existing folder

Bar bar = new Bar( ); folder.Relationships.Add( new FolderMember( bar,“name” ) ); ic.Update( ); // Or Bar bar = new Bar( );folder.MemberRelationships.Add( new FolderMember( bar, “name” ) );ic.Update( ); // Or Bar bar = new Bar( );folder.MemberRelationships.Add( bar, name ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Add an existing item to an existing folder

folder.MemberRelationships.Add( target, “name” ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Add an existing item to a new folder

Folder existingFolder = ic.FindItemById( fid ) as Folder; FoldernewFolder = new Folder( ); existingFolder.MemberRelationships.Add(newFolder, “a name” ); newFolder.MemberRelationships.Add( target, “aname” ); ic.Update( );

-   -   Add a new item to a new folder

Folder existingFolder = ic.FindItemById( fid ) as Folder; FoldernewFolder = new Folder( ); existingFolder.MemberRelationships.Add(newFolder, “a name” ); Bar bar = new Bar( );newFolder.MemberRelationships.Add( bar, “a name” ); ic.Update( );

(5) Deleting Relationships (and Items)

-   -   Delete a holding relationship

// If the source item and relationship ids are known... RelationshipIdrid = ...; Relationship r = ic.FindRelationshipById( fid, rid );r.MarkForDelete; ic.Update( ); // Otherwise...folder.MemberRelationships.Remove( target ); ic.Update( );

8. “Extending” the Storage Platform API

As noted above, every storage platform schema results in a set ofclasses. These classes have standard methods such as Find* and also haveproperties for getting and setting field values. These classes andassociated methods form the foundation of the storage platform API.

a) Domain Behaviors

In addition to these standard methods, every schema has a set of domainspecific methods for it. We call these domain behaviors. For example,some of the domain behaviors in the Contacts schema are:

-   -   Is an email address valid?    -   Given a folder, get the collection of all members of the folder.    -   Given an item ID, get an object representing this item    -   Given a Person, get his online status    -   Helper functions to create a new contact or a temporary contact    -   And so on.

It is important to note that while we make a distinction between“standard” behaviors (Find*, etc) and domain behaviors, they simplyappear as methods to the programmer. The distinction between thesemethods lies in the fact that standard behaviors are generatedautomatically from the schema files by the storage platform API designtime tools while domain behaviors are hard-coded.

By their very nature, these domain behaviors should be hand-crafted.This leads to a practical problem: the initial version of C# requiresthat the entire implementation of a class be within a single file. Thus,this forces the auto-generated class files to have to be edited to adddomain behaviors. By itself, this can be a problem.

A feature called partial classes has been introduced in C# for problemssuch as these. Basically, a partial class allows the classimplementation to span multiple files. A partial class is the same as aregular class except that its declaration is preceded by the keywordpartial:

partial public class Person : DerivedItemBase { // implementation }

Now, domain behaviors for Person can be put in a different file like so:

partial public class Person { public EmailAddress PrimaryEmailAddress {get { /*implementation*/ } } }

b) Value-Add Behaviors

Data classes with domain behaviors form a foundation that applicationdevelopers build on. However, it is neither possible nor desirable fordata classes to expose every conceivable behavior related to that data.The storage platform allows a developer to build on the basefunctionality offered by the storage platform API. The basic patternhere is to write a class whose methods take one or more of the storageplatform data classes as parameters. For example, the value add classesfor sending email using Microsoft Outlook or using Microsoft Windowsmessenger can be as below:

MailMessage m = MailMessage.FindOne(...);OutlookEMailServices.SendMessage(m); Person p = Person.FindOne(...);WindowsMessagerServices m = new WindowsMessagerServices(p);m.MessageReceived += new MessageReceivedHandler( f );m.SendMessage(“Hello”);

These value-add classes can be registered with the storage platform. Theregistration data is associated with the schema metadata the storageplatform maintains for every installed storage platform type. Thismetadata is stored as storage platform items and can be queried.

Registration of value-add classes is a powerful feature; for example, itallows the following scenario: Right click on a Person object in theShell explorer and the set of actions allowed could be derived from thevalue-add classes registered for Person.

c) Value-Add Behaviors as Service Providers

In the present embodiment, the storage platform API provides a mechanismwhereby value-add classes can be registered as “services” for a giventype. This enables an application to set and get service providers(=value add classes) of a given type. Value-add classes wishing toutilize this mechanism should implement a well known interface; forexample:

interface IChatServices { void SendMessage(string msg); eventMessageReceivedHandler MessageReceived; } class WindowsMessengerServices: IChatServices { ... } class YahooMessengerServices : IChatServices {... }

All the storage platform API data classes implement theICachedServiceProvider interface. This interface extends theSystem.IServiceProvider interface as follows:

interface ICachedServiceProvider : System.IServiceProvider { voidSetService(System.Type type, Object provider); voidRemoteService(System.Type type); }Using this interface, applications can set the service provider instanceas well as request a service provider of a specific type.

To support this interface, the storage platform data class maintains ahashtable of service providers keyed by type. When a service provider isrequested, the implementation first looks in the hashtable to see if aservice provider of the specified type has been set. If not, theregistered service provider infrastructure is used to identify a serviceprovider of the specified type. An instance of this provider is thencreated, added to the hashtable, and returned. Note that it is alsopossible for a shared method on the data class to request a serviceprovider and forward an operation to that provider. For example, thiscould be used to provide a Send method on the mail message class thatuses the e-mail system specified by the user.

9. Design Time Framework

This section describes how a storage platform Schema gets turned intostorage platform API classes on the client and UDT classes on theserver, in accordance with the present embodiment of the invention. Thediagram of FIG. 24 shows the components involved.

With reference to FIG. 24, the types in the schema are contained in anXML file (box 1). This file also contains field level and item levelconstraints associated with the schema. The storage platform Classgenerator (xfs2cs.exe—box 2) takes this file and generates the partialclasses for the store UDTs (box 5) and partial classes for the clientclasses (box 3). For each schema domain, there exist additionalmethods—which we call domain behaviors. There are domain behaviors thatmake sense on the store (box 7), on the client (box 6), and in bothplaces (box 4). The code in boxes 4, 6, and 7 are hand written (not—autogenerated). The partial classes in boxes 3, 4, and 6 together form thecomplete class implementation for the storage platform API domainclasses. Boxes 3, 4, and 6 are compiled (box 8) to form the storageplatform API classes—box 11 (actually, the storage platform API is theresult of compiling boxes 3, 4, and 6 that result from all initialschema domains). In addition to the domain classes, there also existadditional classes which implement value-add behavior. These classesmake use of one or more classes in one or more schema domains. This isrepresented by box 10. The partial classes in box 4, 5, and 7 togetherform the complete class implementation for server UDT classes. Boxes 4,5, and 7 are compiled (box 9) to form the server side UDT assembly—box12 (actually, the server side UDT assembly is the result ofcompiler-plus-ing boxes 4, 5, and 7 that result from all initial schemadomains). The DDL Command Generator module (box 13) takes the UDTassembly (box 12) and the Schema file (box 1), and installs them on thedata store. This process involves, among other things, the generation oftables and views for the types in each schema.

10. Query Formalism

When reduced to the basics, the application's pattern when using thestorage platform API is: Open an ItemContext; use Find with a filtercriterion to retrieve the desired objects; operate on the objects; andsend changes back to the store. This section is concerned with thesyntax of what goes into the filter string.

The filter string provided when finding the storage platform dataobjects describes the conditions that the properties of the objects mustmeet in order to be returned. The syntax used by the storage platformAPI supports type casts and relationship traversal.

a) Filter Basics

A filter string is either empty, indicating that all objects of thespecified type are to be returned, or a boolean expression that eachreturned object must satisfy. The expression references the object'sproperties. The storage platform API runtime knows how these propertynames map to the storage platform type field names and, ultimately, tothe SQL views maintained by the storage platform store.

Consider the following examples:

// Find all people FindResult res1 = Person.FindAll(ctx) // Find allpeople that have a Gender property value equal // to ″Male″ FindResultres2 = Person.FindAll(ctx, ″Gender=’Male’″) // Find all people that havea Gender property value equal // to ″Male″ and that were born in thelast millennium. FindResult res3 = Person.FindAll( ctx, ″Gender=’Male’And Birthdate < ’1/1/2001’″)

The properties of nested objects can also be used in the filter. Forexample:

// Find all people that were modified in the last 24 hours FindResultres1 = Person.FindAll( ctx, String.Format(″Item.Modified >’{0}’″,DateTime.Now.Subtract(new TimeSpan(24,0,0))));

For collections, it is possible to filter members using a condition insquare brackets. For example:

// Find all people with the first name ″John″ and the last name //″Smith″ FindResult res1 = Person.FindAll( ctx,″PersonalNames[GivenName=’John’ And Surname=’Smith’]″) // Find allpeople with a real time address from provider ’x’ // and with an onlinestatus category of ’y’ FindResult res2 = Person.FindAll( ctx,″PersonalRealtimeAddress[ProviderURI=’x’].BasicPresence.″ +″OnlineStatus.Category=’y’″)

The following example lists all people born since 12/31/1999:

ItemContext ctx = ItemContext.Open(″Work Contacts″); FindResult results= Person.FindAll( ctx, ″Birthdate > ‘12/31/1999’″ ); foreach( Personperson in results ) Console.WriteLine(person.DisplayName); ctx.Close( );

Line 1 creates a new ItemContext object to access the “Work Contacts” onthe storage platform share on the local computer. Lines 3 and 4 get acollection of Person objects where the Birthdate property specifies adate more recent then 12/31/1999, as specified by the expression“Birthdate>‘12/31/1999”’. The execution of this FindAll operation isillustrated in FIG. 23.

b) Type Casts

It is often the case that the type of a value stored in a property isderived from the properties declared type. For example, thePersonalEAddresses property in Person contains a collection of typesderived from EAddress such as EMailAddress and TelephoneNumber. In orderto filter based on telephone area code, it is necessary to cast from theEAddress type to the TelephoneNumber type:

// Find all people with a phone number in the 425 area code FindResultres1 = Person.FindAll( ctx, ″PersonalEAddresses.″ +″Cast(System.Storage.Contact.TelephoneNumber)).″ + ″AreaCode=’425’″); //Alternatively, you could pass the type name as follows: FindResult res1= Person.FindAll( ctx,String.Format(″PersonalEAddresses.Cast({0})).AreaCode=’425’″,typeof(TelephoneNumber).FullName ))

c) Filter Syntax

Below is a description of the filter syntax supported by the storageplatform API, in accordance with one embodiment.

Filter ::= EmptyFilter | Condition EmptyFilter ::= Condition ::=SimpleCondition | CompoundCondition | ParenthesizedConditionSimpleCondition ::= ExistanceCheck | Comparison ExistanceCheck ::=PropertyReference Comparison ::= PropertyReference ComparisonOp ConstantCompoundCondition ::= SimpleCondition BooleanOp ConditionParenthesizedCondition ::= ‘(‘ Condition ’)’ ComparisonOp ::= ‘!=’ |‘= =’ | ‘=’ | ‘<’ | ‘>’ | ‘>=’ || ‘<=’ BooleanOp ::= ‘And’ | ‘&&’ | ‘Or’| ‘||’ Constant ::= StringConstant | NumericConstatant StringConstant::= ‘‘‘ (any Unicode character)* ’’’ Note: embedded ‘ characters areescaped by duplication NumericConstant ::= 0–9* PropertyReference ::=SimplePropertyName | CompoundPropertyName SimplePropertyName ::= (allUnicode characters except ‘.’ and space)* Filter? Filter ::= ‘[’Condition ‘]’ CompoundPropertyName ::= (Typecast | RelationshipTraversal| SimplePropertyName) ‘.’ PropertyReference TypeCast ::= ‘Cast(‘TypeName ’)’ RelationshipTraversal ::= TraversalToSource |TraversalToTarget TraversalToSource ::= ‘Source(‘ FullRelationshipName’)’ TraversalToTarget ::= ‘Target(‘ FullRelationshipName ’)’ TypeName::= a fully qualified CLR type name FullRelationshipName ::= SchemaName‘.’ RelationshipName SchemaName ::= the storage platformNameRelationshipName ::= the storage platformName the storage platformName::= as defined in [SchemaDef]

11. Remoting

a) Local/Remote Transparency in the API

Data access in the storage platform is targeted to the local storageplatform instance. The local instance serves as a router if the query(or part thereof) refers to remote data. The API layer thus provideslocal/remote transparency: there is no structural difference in the APIbetween local and remote data access. It is purely a function of therequested scope.

The storage platform data store also implements distributed queries;thus, it is possible to connect to a local storage platform instance andperform a query which includes items from different volumes, some ofwhich are on the local store and others on the remote store. The storeunions the results and presents it to the application. From the point ofview of the storage platform API (and hence the application developer)any remote access is completely seamless and transparent.

The storage platform API allows an application to determine if a givenItemContext object (as returned by the ItemContext.Open method)represents a local or remote connection using the IsRemote property—thisis a property on the ItemContext object. Among other things, theapplication may wish to provide visual feedback to help set userexpectations for performance, reliability, etc.

b) Storage Platform Implementation of Remoting

The storage platform data stores talk to each other using a specialOLEDB provider which runs over HTTP (the default OLEDB provider usesTDS). In one embodiment, a distributed query goes through the defaultOPENROWSET functionality of the relational database engine. A specialuser defined function (UDF): DoRemoteQuery(server, queryText) isprovided to do actual remoting.

c) Accessing Non-Storage Platform Stores

In one embodiment of the storage platform of the present invention,there is no generic provider architecture that allows any store toparticipate in storage platform data access. However, a limited providerarchitecture for the specific case of Microsoft Exchange and MicrosoftActive Directory (AD) is provided. This implies that developers can usethe storage platform API and access data in AD and Exchange just as theywould in the storage platform, but that the data they can access islimited to the storage platform schematized types. Thus, address book(=collection of the storage platform Person types) is supported in AD,and mail, calendar and contacts are supported for Exchange.

d) Relationship to DFS

The storage platform property promoter does not promote past mountpoints. Even though the namespace is rich enough to access through mountpoints, queries do not pass through them. The storage platform volumescan appear as leaf nodes in a DFS tree.

e) Relationship to GXA/Indigo

A developer can use the storage platform API to expose a “GXA head” ontop of the data store. Conceptually, this is no different from creatingany other web service. The storage platform API does not talk to astorage platform data store using GXA. As mentioned above, the API talksto the local store using TDS; any remoting is handled by the local storeusing the synchronization service.

12. Constraints

The storage platform data model allows value constraints on types. Theseconstraints are evaluated on the store automatically and the process istransparent to the user. Note that constraints are checked at theserver. Having noted this, sometimes, it is desirable to give thedeveloper the flexibility to verify that the input data satisfies theconstraints without incurring the overhead of a round trip to theserver. This is especially useful in interactive applications where theend user enters the data which is used to populate an object. Thestorage platform API provides this facility.

Recall that a storage platform Schema is specified in an XML file, whichis used by the storage platform to generate the appropriate databaseobjects representing the schema. It is also used by the design timeframework of the storage platform API to auto generate classes.

Here's a partial listing of the XML file used to generate the Contactsschema:

<Schema Name=“Contacts” MajorVersion=“1” MinorVersion=“8”><ReferencedSchema Name=“Base” MajorVersion=“1” /> <Type Name=“Person”MajorVersion=“1” MinorVersion=“0” ExtendsType=“Principal”ExtendsVersion=“1”> <Field Name=“Birthdate” Type=“the storageplatformTypes.datetime” Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“false” /> <FieldName=“Gender” Type=“the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(16)”Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“false” /> <Field Name=“PersonalNames”Type=“FullName” TypeMajorVersion=“1” Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“true”/> <Field Name=“PersonalEAddresses” Type=“EAddress” TypeMajorVersion=“1”Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“true” /> <FieldName=“PersonalPostalAddresses” Type= “PostalAddress”TypeMajorVersion=“1” Nullable=“true” MultiValued=“true” /><Check>expression</Check> </Type> ... ... </Schema>

The Check tags in the XML above specify the constraints on the Persontype. There can be more than one check tag. The above constraint isgenerally checked in the store. To specify that the constraint can alsobe checked explicitly by the application, the above XML is modified likeso:

<Schema Name=“Contacts” MajorVersion=“1” MinorVersion=“8”><ReferencedSchema Name=“Base” MajorVersion=“1” /> <Type Name=“Person”...> <Field Name=“Birthdate” Type=“the storage platformTypes.datetime”Nullable=“true” Multivalued=“false” /> ... <CheckInApplication=“true”>expression</Check> </Type> ... ... </Schema>Note the new “InApplication” attribute on the <Check> element, which isset to true. This causes the storage platform API to surface theconstraint in the API through an instance method on the Person classcalled Validate( ). The application can call this method on the objectto ensure that the data is valid and, preventing a potentially uselessround trip to the server. This returns a bool to indicate the results ofvalidation. Note that the value constraints are still applied at theserver regardless of whether the client calls <object>.Validate( )method or not. Here's an example of how Validate can be used:

ItemContext ctx = ItemContext.Open( ); // Create a contact in the user'sMy Contacts folder. Folder f =UserDataFolder.FindMyPersonalContactsFolder( ctx ); Person p = newPerson( f ); // Set the person's birthdate. p.Birthdate = new DateTime(1959, 6, 9 ); // Add a name categorized as a personal name FullName name= new FullName( FullName.Category.PrimaryName ); name.GivenName = “Joe”;name.Surname = “Smith”; p.PersonalNames.Add( name ); //validate thePerson object if (p.Validate( ) = = false) { // data does not representa valid person } // save changes p.Update( ); ctx.Close( );

There exist multiple access paths to the storage platform store—thestorage platform API, ADO.NET, ODBC, OLEDB, and ADO. This raises thequestion of authoritative constraint checking—that is, how can weguarantee that data written from, say, ODBC, go through the same dataintegrity constraints as would data written from the storage platformAPI. Since all constraints are checked at the store, the constraints arenow authoritative. Regardless of what API path one uses to get to thestore, all writes to the store are filtered through the constraintchecks at the store.

13. Sharing

A share in the storage platform is of the form:

-   -   \\<DNS Name>\<Context Service>,        where <DNS Name> is the DNS name of the machine, and <Context        Service> is a containment folder, virtual folder, or an item in        a volume on that machine. For example, assume that the machine        “Johns_Desktop” has a volume called Johns_Information, and in        this volume there exists a folder called Contacts_Categories;        this folder contains a folder called Work, which has the work        contacts for John:    -   \\Johns_Desktop\Johns_Information$\Contacts_Categories\Work        This can be shared as “WorkContacts”. With the definition of        this share, \\Johns_Desktop\WorkContacts\JaneSmith is a valid        storage platform name, and identifies the Person item JaneSmith.

a) Representing a Share

The share item type has the following properties: the share name, andthe share target (this can be a non-holding link). For example, theaforementioned share's name is WorkContacts and target isContacts_Categories\Work on the volume Johns_Information. Below is theschema fragment for the Share type:

<Schema xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfs/2002/11/18/schema”Name=“Share” MajorVersion=“1” MinorVersion=“0”> <ReferencedSchemaName=“Base” MajorVersion=“1”/> <ReferencedSchema Name=“the storageplatformTypes” MajorVersion=“1”/> <Type Name=“Share” MajorVersion=“1”MinorVersion=“0” ExtendsType=“Base.Item” ExtendsVersion=“1”> <FieldName=“Name” Type=“the storage platformTypes.nvarchar(512)”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> <Field Name=“Target” Type=“Base.RelationshipData”TypeMajorVersion=“1”/> </Type> </Schema>

b) Managing Shares

Because a share is an item, shares can be managed just as with otheritems. A share can be created, deleted, and modified. A share is alsosecured the same way as other storage platform items.

c) Accessing Shares

An application accesses a remote storage platform share by passing theshare name (e.g. \\Johns_Desktop\WorkContacts) to the storage platformAPI in the ItemContext.Open( ) method call. ItemContext.Open returns anItemContext object instance. The storage platform API then talks to thelocal storage platform service (recall that accessing remote storageplatform shares is done via the local storage platform). In turn, thelocal storage platform service talks to a remote storage platformservice (e.g. on machine Johns_Desktop) with the given share name (e.g.WorkContacts). The remote storage platform service then translatesWorkContacts into Contacts_Categories\Work and opens it. After that,query and other operations are performed just like other scopes.

d) Discoverability

In one embodiment, an application program can discover shares availableon a given <DNS Name>, in the following ways. According to the firstway, the storage platform API accepts a DNS name (e.g. Johns_Desktop) asthe scope parameter in ItemContext.Open( ) method. The storage platformAPI then connects to the storage platform store with this DNS name aspart of a connection string. With this connection, the only possiblething an application can do is call ItemContext.FindAll(typeof(Share)).A storage platform service then unions all the shares on all theattached volumes and returns the collection of shares. According to thesecond way, on a local machine, an administrator can easily discover theshares on a particular volume by FindAll(typeof(Share)), or a particularfolder by FindAll(typeof(Share),“Target(ShareDestination).Id=folderId”).

14. Semantics of Find

The Find* methods (regardless of whether they are called on theItemContext object or on an individual item) generally apply to Items(including embedded items) within a given context. Nested elements donot have a Find—they cannot be searched independently of theircontaining Items. This is consistent with the semantic desired by thestorage platform data model, where nested elements derive their“identity” from the containing item. To make this notion clearer, hereare examples of valid and invalid find operations:

-   -   a) Show me all telephone numbers in the system which have an        area code of 206? Invalid, since the find is being done on        telephone numbers—an element—without reference to an item.    -   b) Show me all telephone numbers within all Persons which have        area code of 206? Invalid, even though a Person (=item) is        referenced, the search criterion does not involve that item.    -   c) Show me all telephone numbers of Murali (=one single person)        which have area code of 206?

Valid, since there is a search criterion on an Item (a Person named“Murali”). The exception to this rule is for nested element typesderived directly or indirectly from the Base.Relationship type. Thesetypes can be queried individually through relationship classes. Suchqueries can be supported because the storage platform implementationemploys a “master link table” to store Relationship elements instead ofembedding them inside item UDTs.

15. The Storage Platform Contacts API

This section gives an overview of the storage platform Contacts API. Theschema behind the Contacts API is shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B.

a) Overview of System.Storage.Contact

The storage platform API includes a namespace for dealing with items andelements in the Contacts schema. This namespace is calledSystem.Storage.Contact.

This schema has, for example, the following classes:

-   -   Items: UserDataFolder, User, Person, ADService, Service, Group,        Organization, Principal, Location    -   Elements: Profile, PostalAddress, EmailAddress, TelephoneNumber,        RealTimeAddress, EAddress, FullName, BasicPresence,        GroupMembership, RoleOccupancy

b) Domain Behaviors

Below is a list of domain behaviors for the Contacts schema. When viewedfrom a high enough level, domain behaviors fall into well-recognizablecategories:

-   -   Static Helpers, for example, Person.CreatePersonalContact( ) to        create a new personal contact;    -   Instance Helpers, for example user.AutoLoginToAllProfiles( ),        which logs in a user (instance of User class) into all profiles        that are marked for auto login;    -   CategoryGUIDs, for example, Category.Home, Category.Work, etc;    -   Derived properties, for example, emailAddress.Address( )—returns        a string that combines the username and domain fields of the        given emailAddress (=instance of EmailAddress class); and    -   Derived collections, for example,        person.PersonalEmailAddresses—given an instance of Person class,        get her personal email addresses.

The table below gives, for each class in Contacts that has domainbehaviors, a list of these methods and the category they belong to.

BasicPresence Category UnknownCategoryURI, URIs OfflineCategoryURI,BusyCategoryURI, AwayCategoryURI, OnlineCategoryURI StaticConvertPresenceStateToString— helpers format presence state as alocalized string (actually localization needs to be added; just does afriendly English string now). Category Category Home, Work, Primary,GUIDs Secondary, Cell, Fax, Pager EmailAddress Derived Address—combinesusername properties and domain Static IsValidEmailAddress helpers FolderDerived GetChildItemCollection— properties makes an item collectionbased on the Targets of the FolderMembership. StaticGetKnownFolder—specialized helpers queries to get well-known foldersAddToPersonalContacts— adds an item to the well- known personal contactsfolder Items Static GetItemFromID—does ID helpers based queryRelationship Instance BindToTarget—returns Item helpers for TargetPerson Derived PersonalRealtimeAddresses, collectionsPersonalEmailAddresses, PersonalTelephoneNumbers Derived OnlineStatus,properties OnlineStatusIconSource, PrimaryEmailAddress,PrimarySecurityID Static CreatePersonalContact, helpersCreateTemporaryContact— creates new person in well-known folderGetCurrentUser—get's Person for currently logged in user SecurityIDDerived UserName, DomainName, properties DomainUserName TelephoneNumberInstance SetFromUserInputString— helpers parses telephone number stringinto parts Static ParseNumber—parses helpers telephone number stringinto parts User Instance AutoLoginToAllProfiles— helpers logs into allprofiles that are marked for autologin

16. Storage Platform File API

This section gives an overview of the the storage platform File API, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

a) Introduction (1) Reflecting an NTFS Volume in the Storage Platform

The storage platform provides a way of indexing over content in existingNTFS volumes. This is accomplished by extracting (“promoting”)properties from each file stream or directory in NTFS and storing theseproperties as Items in the storage platform.

The storage platform File schema defines two item types—File andDirectory—to store promoted file system entities. The Directory type isa subtype of the Folder type; it is a containment folder which containsother Directory items or File items.

A Directory item can contain Directory and File items; it cannot containitems of any other type. As far as the storage platform is concerned,Directory and File items are read-only from any of the data access APIs.The File System Promotion Manager (FSPM) service asynchronously promoteschanged properties into the storage platform. The properties of File andDirectory items can be changed by the Win32 API. The storage platformAPI can be used to read any of the properties of these items, includingthe stream associated with a File item.

(2) Creating Files and Directories in the Storage Platform Namespace

When an NTFS volume gets promoted to a storage platform volume, all thefiles and directories therein are in a specific part of that volume.This area is read-only from the storage platform perspective; the FSPMcan create new directories and files and/or change properties ofexisting items.

The rest of the namespace of this volume can contain the usual gamut ofthe storage platform item types—Principal, Organization, Document,Folder, etc. The storage platform also allows you to create Files andDirectories in any part of the the storage platform namespace. These“native” Files and Directories have no counterpart in the NTFS filesystem; they are stored entirely in the storage platform. Furthermore,changes to properties are visible immediately.

However, the programming model remains the same: they are stillread-only as far as the the storage platform data access APIs areconcerned. The “native” Files and Directories have to be updated usingWin32 APIs. This simplifies the developer's mental model, which is:

-   -   1. Any storage platform item type can be created anywhere in the        namespace (unless prevented by permissions, of course);    -   2. Any storage platform item type can be read using the storage        platform API;    -   3. All storage platform items types are writable using the        storage platform API with the exception of File and Directory;    -   4. To write to File and Directory items regardless of where they        are in the namespace, use the Win32 API; and    -   5. Changes to File/Directory items in the “promoted” namespace        may not appear immediately in the storage platform; in the        “non-promoted” namespace, the changes are reflected immediately        in the storage platform.

b) File Schema

FIG. 25 illustrates the schema on which the File API is based.

c) Overview of System.Storage.Files

The storage platform API includes a namespace for dealing with fileobjects. This namespace is called System.Storage.Files. The data membersof the classes in System.Storage.Files directly reflect the informationstored in the storage platform store; this information is “promoted”from the file system objects or may be created natively using the Win32API. The System.Storage.Files namespace has two classes: FileItem andDirectoryItem. The members of these classes and methods thereof can bereadily divined by looking at the schema diagram in FIG. 25. FileItemand DirectoryItem are read-only from the storage platform API. In orderto modify them, one has to use the Win32 API or classes in System.IO.

d) Code Examples

In this section, three code examples are provided illustrating the useof the classes in System.Storage.Files.

(1) Opening a File and Writing to It

This example shows how to do “traditional” file manipulation.

ItemContext ctx = ItemContext.Open( ); FileItem f =FileItem.FindByPath(ctx, @“\My Documents\billg.ppt”); // example ofhandling file properties - ensure that file is // not read-only if(!f.IsReadOnly) { FileStream fs = f.OpenWrite( ); // Read, write, closefile stream fs } ctx.Close( );

Line 3 uses the FindByPath method to open the file. Line 7 shows the useof the promoted property, IsReadOnly, to check if the file is writeable.If it is, then in line 9 we use the OpenWrite( ) method on the FileItemobject to get the file stream.

(2) Using Queries

Since the storage platform store holds properties promoted from the filesystem, it is possible to easily do rich queries on the files. In thisexample, all files modified in the last three days are listed:

// List all files modified in the last 3 days FindResult result =FileItem.FindAll( ctx, “Modified >= ‘{0}’”, DateTime.Now.AddDays(−3));foreach ( FileItem file in result ) { ... }

Here's another example of using queries—this one finds all writablefiles of a certain type (=extension):

// Find all writable .cs files in a particular directory. // Equivalentto: dir c:\win\src\api\*.cs /a-r-d DirectoryItem dir =DirectoryItem.FindByPath(ctx, @″c:\win\src\api″); FindResult result =dir.GetFiles( ″Extension=’cs’ and IsReadOnly=false″); foreach ( Filefile in result ) { ... }

e) Domain Behaviors

In one embodiment, in addition to the standard properties and methods,the file class also has domain behaviors (hand coded properties andmethods). These behaviors are generally based on methods in thecorresponding System.IO classes.

J. Conclusion

As the foregoing illustrates, the present invention is directed to astorage platform for organizing, searching, and sharing data. Thestorage platform of the present invention extends and broadens theconcept of data storage beyond existing file systems and databasesystems, and is designed to be the store for all types of data,including structured, non-structured, or semi-structured data, such asrelational (tabular) data, XML, and a new form of data called Items.Through its common storage foundation and schematized data, the storageplatform of the present invention enables more efficient applicationdevelopment for consumers, knowledge workers and enterprises. It offersa rich and extensible application programming interface that not onlymakes available the capabilities inherent in its data model, but alsoembraces and extends existing file system and database access methods.It is understood that changes may be made to the embodiments describedabove without departing from the broad inventive concepts thereof.Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but is intended to cover all modifications thatare within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

As is apparent from the above, all or portions of the various systems,methods, and aspects of the present invention may be embodied in theform of program code (i.e., instructions). This program code may bestored on a computer-readable medium, such as a magnetic, electrical, oroptical storage medium, including without limitation a floppy diskette,CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, magnetic tape, flash memory, hard diskdrive, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when theprogram code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as acomputer or server, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing theinvention. The present invention may also be embodied in the form ofprogram code that is transmitted over some transmission medium, such asover electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, over a network,including the Internet or an intranet, or via any other form oftransmission, wherein, when the program code is received and loaded intoand executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes anapparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on ageneral-purpose processor, the program code combines with the processorto provide a unique apparatus that operates analogously to specificlogic circuits.

1. A computer-readable storage medium with computer-readableinstructions for a file storage platform that supports organization,searching, sharing, synchronization, and security of objects stored on adata store of a computer system, the computer-readable instructionsoperable to perform a method when executed, the method comprising:defining a core schema, the core schema defining a plurality of typesfor plurality of objects stored in the file storage platform, the coreschema further defining: folders that organize groups of the pluralityof objects, wherein the folders allow at least one of the plurality ofobjects to be organized within more than one folder without creatingseparate copies of the at least one of the plurality of objects; andcategories that organize different groups of the plurality of objectsbased on at least one of a type, a property, or a value of the pluralityof objects, wherein the categories allow the at least one of theplurality of objects to be automatically assigned to and organizedwithin a category based on at least one of a type, a property, or avalue of the at least one of the plurality of objects without creating aseparate copy of the at least one of the plurality of objects; storing afirst object in the file storage platform, the first object beingorganized within a first folder and also within a second folder withoutcreating separate copies of the first object, wherein the first folderalso includes a second object that is not within a same category as thefirst object; and automatically organizing the first object within afirst category based on at least one of a type, a property, or a valueof the first object without creating a separate copy of the firstobject, wherein the first category also organizes a third object thathas a same type, property, or value as the first object.
 2. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein said core schema furtherdefines a set of core properties.
 3. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 2 wherein each property from the set of core properties is deriveddirectly or indirectly from at least one base property.
 4. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein said base property is aproperty in a Base Schema.
 5. The computer-readable medium of claim 3wherein the core schema comprises an object for devices.
 6. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises anobject for events.
 7. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 whereinthe core schema comprises an object for commodities.
 8. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises anobject for messages.
 9. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 whereinthe core schema comprises an object for Categories.
 10. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises anobject for principals.
 11. The computer-readable medium of claim 3wherein the core schema comprises an object for locations.
 12. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises anobject for documents.
 13. The computer-readable medium of claim 3wherein the core schema comprises an object for statements.
 14. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises anobject for contacts.
 15. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 whereinthe core schema comprises a property for a certificate.
 16. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises aproperty for a principal idunit key.
 17. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 3 wherein the core schema comprises a property for a postaladdress.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the coreschema comprises a property for a rich text element.
 19. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the core schema comprises aproperty for an electronic address.
 20. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 3 wherein the core schema comprises a property for an idunitsecurity package.
 21. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 whereinthe core schema comprises a Relationship for occupying a role betweentwo Contacts.
 22. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein thecore schema comprises a property for a basic presence.
 23. A systemincluding a file storage platform that supports organization, searching,sharing, synchronization, and security of files stored on a data storethe system comprising: a computer-readable storage medium comprisingcomputer-readable instructions; a processor operable to execute thecomputer readable instructions to perform a method comprising: storing aplurality of discrete units of information, the discrete units ofinformation being files stored in the file storage platform; defining acore schema that defines a set of core discrete units of informationrelated to each of a plurality of discrete units of information, thecore schema further defining: folders that organize groups of theplurality of discrete units of information, wherein one of the discreteunits of information belongs to more than one folder without requiring aseparate copy of the one of the discrete units of information; andcategories that organize different groups of the discrete units ofinformation based on at least one of a type, a property, or a value ofthe discrete units of information, wherein each of the plurality ofdiscrete units of information are automatically assigned to andorganized within one or more of the categories; storing a first discreteunit of information in the file storage platform, the first discreteunit of information being organized within a first folder and alsowithin a second folder without creating separate copies of the firstdiscrete unit of information, wherein the first folder also includes asecond discrete unit of information that is not within a same categoryas the first discrete unit of information; and automatically organizingthe first discrete unit of information within a first category based onat least one of a type, a property, or a value of the first discreteunit of information without creating a separate copy of the firstdiscrete unit of information, wherein the first category also organizesa third discrete unit of information that has a same type, property, orvalue as the first discrete unit of information.
 24. The system of claim23 wherein each discrete unit of information from the set of corediscrete units of information is derived directly or indirectly from acommon single base discrete unit of information.
 25. The system of claim24 wherein said common single base discrete unit of information is afoundational in discrete unit of information in a Base Schema.
 26. Thesystem of claim 25 wherein said foundational discrete unit ofinformation comprises a property for a unique identification of saiddiscrete unit of information.
 27. The system of claim 25 wherein saidcore schema further defines a set of core properties.
 28. The system ofclaim 27 wherein each property from the set of core discrete units ofinformation is derived directly or indirectly from at least one baseproperty.
 29. The system of claim 28 wherein said base property is aproperty in a Base Schema.
 30. The system of claim 28 wherein the coreschema comprises a discrete unit of information for devices.
 31. Thesystem of claim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a discrete unit ofinformation for events.
 32. The system of claim 28 wherein the coreschema comprises a discrete unit of information for commodities.
 33. Thesystem of claim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a discrete unit ofinformation for messages.
 34. The system of claim 28 wherein the coreschema comprises a discrete unit of information for Categories.
 35. Thesystem of claim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a discrete unit ofinformation for principals.
 36. The system of claim 28 wherein the coreschema comprises a discrete unit of information for locations.
 37. Thesystem of claim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a discrete unit ofinformation for documents.
 38. The system of claim 28 wherein the coreschema comprises a discrete unit of information for statements.
 39. Thesystem of claim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a property for acertificate.
 40. The system of claim 28 wherein the core schemacomprises a property for a principal idunit key.
 41. The system of claim28 wherein the core schema comprises a property for a postal address.42. The system of claim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a propertyfor a rich text element.
 43. The system of claim 28 wherein the coreschema comprises a property for an electronic address.
 44. The system ofclaim 28 wherein the core schema comprises a property for an idunitsecurity package.
 45. The system of claim 28 wherein the core schemacomprises a property for occupying a role.
 46. The system of claim 28wherein the core schema comprises a property for a basic presence.